The New Johto Journey's
by Lygatto-Un-Sorceror
Summary: After getting knocked out of the Sinnoh League Ash is betrayed by Dawn. After Dawn's betrayal Ash decides to go through the Johto Region once again...without Pikachu.
1. A New Ash

Ash was lying in his room in the Pokémon Centre two days after getting decimated by his rival in the Sinnoh League Competition, thinking *What in the world could I have done differently...* when suddenly Dawn burst into the room and said "right, I've had enough of your bellyaching Ash."

"Go away Dawn, right now I just want to be left alone, alright" Ash said depressed.

"No Ash, the final battle is on in 30 minutes and it's between that trainer with a Darkrai and Paul."

"I'm not interested."

"Ohhhh. Fine then, run away from it then."

"I'm not running away from anything."

"Then why are you still in your room after two days!"

"I'm thinking about what went wrong in my battle... I was winning and then for some reason it all just fell over."

"Is that what this is about?"

"..."

"Well, all you can do is try harder next time."

"I've tried that. I've been a trainer for five years and, even though I've beaten the Orange League and conquered the Kanto Battle Frontier, I've yet to get higher in a Regional League than eighth."

"Well, maybe you need a break from challenging the Leagues for a while."

"I don't think that that is going to help."

"Hmph, fine then... actually..."

"Actually what?"

"No need to worry, I've got an idea but it's going to take a few days to get everything I need, alright?"

"I don't know, tell me what you're thinking of doing."

"You'll find out in no more than 4 days, but first, I want you to watch this final match."

"Okay, sure."

3 days later everybody in the Pokémon centre was asleep after the celebrations of the conclusion of the Sinnoh League, except for one. Dawn was creeping from her room around to the one next to hers that belonged to Ash Ketchum. When she entered the room she crept into his bedroom and quietly, so as he wouldn't wake up, walked over to his bed and injected something into the vein in his arm. Her mission completed, she then went back to her room and went to sleep.

The next day, at 7 o'clock, Ash woke up and immediately knew something was different. He sat up in bed and was surprised when, instead of two locks of hair falling down across his forehead, there were actually two bangs hanging down blocking his peripheral vision. He said to himself "what the...," frowning in confusion, grabbing hold of one of them. He then walked into the bathroom provided by the Pokémon Centre and looked in the mirror, what he saw surprised him enough to cause him to faint.

2 hours later Brock had had enough of waiting around for Ash to get up and decided to get him. When he got in the room he started calling out "Ash, Ash." Having had enough of the silent treatment he decided to go to the bedroom, Ash was not there. So he then went into the bathroom and saw a fainted girl there.

Author's Notes:

I apologise for the short chapter but it is merely an introduction into the story and I could not think of any ways to make it longer.

Ash will start to deal with the changes in the next chapter.

This story is a standalone and has absolutely nothing to do with my other story

Please review


	2. A New Person, A New Journey

Seeing the girl lying on the ground Brock squatted down next to her and shook her shoulder, saying "hey, hey, wake up."

The girl started to stir and Brock, thinking that seeing him standing over her might shock her into fainting again. When the girl started to wake up she rolled over and murmured "Brock...is that you?"

Brock, confused at the girl knowing his name, said "uh, I'm sorry, but I've never seen you before."

"What do you mean never seen me before? It's me."

"It's you...I'm sorry, I still don't know what you mean miss."

"Miss...what are you talking about?"

"Well, the term does seem to apply to you. Other than that, what are you doing in my friends' room?"

"What are you talking about? It's me, Ash."

"Eh?"

"What do you mean eh..." Ash trailed off remembering what he, now she, had seen in the mirror. Ash then continued "wait...I remember now. I went into the bathroom when I saw that my hair was longer than it should have been and then I saw that..."

"That...?"

"What you see before you happened...wait a minute, Dawn must have something to do with this" Ash said, remembering the conversation that he, now she, had with dawn.

"Now Ash, if that's really who you are, how can Dawn possibly have anything to do with you being a girl?"

"I know it sounds crazy but she said that she knew of a way that would let me have a break from Pokémon League competitions for a while."

"Well, I guess that this could do it...still though, how would she be able to do it?"

"I don't know, all I know is that now I'm a girl and she did it to me."

"Why don't we talk to Dawn first and then decide what to do from there."

"Yes, I suppose that that is a good starting point."

"Okay, first things first though..."

"What do you mean?"

"You're still in your pyjamas, you need to get dressed."

"Ah, right, there is that."

5 minutes later, after Ash was dressed, Ash and Brock headed to the main area of the Pokémon Centre looking for Dawn. When they got there they couldn't see dawn anywhere, so they went to the check in desk. When they got there Brock said "oh beauteous maiden, have you seen our friend?"

The Nurse Joy had a sweat drop appear on the side of her head and said "I think that she left about 20 minutes ago, why?"

"Well, you see Nurse Joy we think that she might have had something to do with my friends current predicament."

"What predicament is that?"

"I used to be a guy yesterday" Ash said.

"That's nice dear. I think that I need to make a phone call to get you some help."

"I'm not crazy."

"I still think I need to call someo..."

"She's telling the truth I'm afraid" Brock said.

"What do you mean?"

"He means that I'm Ash Ketchum."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that I am the trainer that came in the top eight in the tournament just held."

"Okay, say I believe you, what do you expect me to be able to do about it?"

"I don't know, I guess I thought that because you're a doctor you would've heard something about something that could do...well...this."

"I'm sorry but I haven't."

Ash sighed and said "Then I guess that I'll be stuck like this for the foreseeable future then."

"I suppose so...well, that being the case you're going to be needing some new clothes."

"What! Why?"

Nurse Joy looked at Ash as though he was delirious and said "because, now that you're a girl, your going to be needing clothes that are designed for girls."

Ash sighed and said "I guess you're right."

"I know I am...now, I'll call my mother and ask her if she can take over for today."

"What? What do you mean your mother, how old are you?"

"I'm 19; why?"

"Oh, no reason really."

"There's always a reason that someone says something."

Ash sighed and said "I guess that it's just that it's the first time that I've come across a Nurse Joy as young as you are."

"I guess I'll take that as a compliment. Okay, now...shopping."

"Oh dear god NOOOOO!" Ash screamed.

3 hours later, when Ash and the kind Nurse Joy returned to the Pokémon centre, Ash had everything he, now she, needed to travel as a girl. She was now wearing a black maxi-skirt and a red tank top with and black sandals. When they entered the centre Brock ran up to Ash and fell to one knee and said "please tell me your name so that I may emblazon it upon my heart."

Ash turned to Pikachu that was perched upon her shoulder and said "Pikachu, Thunderbolt his ass."

Pikachu, at his masters command said "Pi-i-i-i-k-a-a-a-a-chu-u-u-u-u-u!" gathering enough electricity for an extremely powerful electric attack.

Brock, seeing that the stunningly beautiful woman that he had just hit on was with a Nurse Joy, connected the dots and started backing away saying "A-A-A-A-Ash..." before he got hit by the Thunderbolt that Pikachu had been charging. After the attack stopped there was a charred Brock twitching on the ground stuttering "that was shocking..." and then fainted.

Nurse Joy turned to Ash and asked "was that strictly necessary?"

"Yes" Ash replied.

Nurse Joy sighed and said "well, now that you're set for clothes we really need to do something about your name."

"What's wrong with my name?"

"Well, you can hardly walk around calling yourself Ash now can you?"

"I guess not."

"So, any thoughts?"

"It's not something that you really think about, you know?"

"No, I suppose not...well, what about Ashley?"

"Well, it's not too different, I guess Ashley will be fine...after all, it'll only be for a short time after all, heh, heh, heh heh."

"Yes, well we can always hope."

Ash, now Ashley sighed and said "I'm trying not to think about the other possibility right now."

"I suppose that's fine."

"Well, by now your friend, if you can really call someone that would do something like this a friend, is probably long-gone."

"Yeah, if I were Dawn I would have high-tailed it as soon as I did this..." Ashley said, indicating herself.

"Yes, well, what are you going to do now?"

Ashley sighed and said "well, first of all, I need to contact Professor Oak to tell him of what's happened..."

"You know Professor Oak?"

"Yeah, his grandson and I used to play together growing up."

"So, what'll he be able to do about your situation?"

"Probably nothing, however, if I'm going to keep on travelling I'm going to have to have my Pokémon trainer information updated."

"I suppose so."

"Also, this time I think I'll send Pikachu back to the Professors Lab."

"Really?"

"Yeah, Pikachu..." Ashley indicated her starter Pokémon "...will automatically identify me as Ash Ketchum."

"I suppose so."

"Especially if I'm going to go to Johto again."

"You're challenging the Johto league again?"

"Yeah, I think that I heard that they've started up a Pokémon contest league too so I might give that a try as well, well, I'll know when I get there."

"Well, I'll let you go and contact the professor and I'll get changed back into my uniform."

"Alright."

2 minutes later Ashley arrived at the Pokémon centres phone room and then went over to one of the phones. She dialled the number of Professor Oaks lab and, when the Professor answered the phone he said "hi...uh, I'm sorry, do I know you?"

"Professor, it's me, Ash."

"What?"

Ashley said "I said it's me, Ash Ketchum."

"Yeah, pull the other one."

Ashley sighed and said "I know it doesn't really look like me, but I really am Ash Ketchum."

"Prove it."

"You gave me this Pikachu..." Ashley indicated Pikachu, who had just jumped on top of Ashley's head "...when I was late getting to your lab."

"Okay, what were you wearing?"

"My pyjamas."

The Professor said "okay, say I believe you, how did this happen?"

I don't really know, all I know is that I was a guy last night, I went to sleep and I wake up and this has happened" Ashley said running both of her hands through the air indicating herself.

"Okay, so has anything else happened?"

"Yeah, Dawn, my supposed friend, disappeared."

"Okay, I've heard of something like this before..."

"Really, what is it?"

"Hmmmm,..." Professor Oak said resting his chin on his fist "I'm sorry Ash, I can't remember right now."

"Well, I suppose that's alright for now, just when you do..."

"I'll contact you right away."

"Thanks."

"So, what are you going to do in the meantime?"

"I was thinking go through Johto again."

"Hmm, a new person, a new journey, is that it?"

"Pretty much."

"Okay then, I'll have to change the information on your trainer license then."

"Yeah, that's why I called you."

"Okay, just give me a second..." Professor Oak said as he typed on his computer "...ah, here we are; Ash Ketchum...Now let's see here..."

"Uh professor" Ashley interrupted.

"Yes."

"I was wondering..."

"What?"

"Can you make a new trainer license for me?"

"Why certainly."

"Thanks."

"Why?"

"Well, I think that it would just be easier, ya know?"

"Well, that's alright I suppose."

"Thanks."

"I'm just going to need some information from you."

"That's fine."

"What will be the name on the license?"

"Ashley Ketchum."

"Alright, date of birth?"

"Same as before."

"Gender, obviously female."

"Obviously" Ashley said in a dry tone.

"Date of issue...well today will do. Starter...Pikach..."

"Uh, about that."

"Yes?"

"I'm actually going to send Pikachu back to you professor."

"Really?"

"Yeah, it kind of gives me away don't you think?"

"I suppose so, you have travelled Johto before after all. So, who should I put as your starter then?"

"Gible."

"Gible, but that's not a starter from any region."

"I know, but during my travels here I met a lady who told me that she was from a village of dragon trainers and that they all receive a dragon type as their starter...so-o-o-o..."

"I suppose that should be alright then. Now, last but not least 'home region.'"

"Sinnoh."

"I suppose it would have to be, wouldn't it."

"Yeah."

"Alright, all done. Go to the Pokémon transfer device and put your pokedex in the slot provided and when you send your Pokémon over I'll send you Gible and your new trainer license."

"Thanks professor, I'll do that now." After saying that Ashley went over to the Pokémon transfer device and put five pokeballs into the pokeball indentations provided and then turned to Pikachu holding a sixth pokeball. She crouched down so that she was closer to Pikachu's height and said "I know you don't like this but I have to put you in a pokeball so that I can send you to Professor Oaks lab." Pikachu shook it's head from side to side with a, quite frankly, pathetic look on its face. Ashley continued on "look, I don't want to do it either but it's the only way."

Pikachu continued to shake its head when Brock, who had come around just in time to hear the last bit of the conversation between Ashley and Pikachu, said "I could take him to the Professors lab if you want?"

"Thanks Brock, is that okay with you Pikachu?"

Pikachu nodded its head extravagantly saying "pika pika."

"Well, that's settled then" Ashley said getting up, turning around and pressing the transfer button on the machine. When the transfer was complete Ashley said "well then, that's that, I'm off to the Johto region."

"Well, I'll see you around then."

"Yeah, sure thing Brock."

"Well, not without saying goodbye to me I hope" the Nurse Joy that had been helping Ashley since the transformation.

"Of course not, how could I forget you?"

"Well, that's alright then" Nurse Joy said, blushing.

Ashley smiled went over and said "thank you for all you've done for me, really. I don't know how I could ever repay you."

"Well, I can think of one way."

"Really, what's that?"

"Come back here once you're done in Johto."

"I'd love to."

Brock said "Ehhhh, how'd this happen?" backing up in amazement.

"How'd what happen, Brock?"

"How in the world did you get a Nurse Joy to fall in love with you before me?" Brock said sobbing.

"Well, that's easy ..." the Nurse Joy said "...She was just herself."

"Eh, it's really that easy?"

"No."

"Well, we really have to be on our way."

"Yeah, I know" Nurse Joy said sombrely.

"Don't worry, I'll be back as soon as I can, alright?" Ashley said, lifting the Nurse Joy's face up by her chin.

Nurse Joy stood on her toes and, throwing her arms over Ashley's shoulders, leaned in and kissed her, which Ashley eagerly returned. She said "you'd better be."

"I will, have no worries about that, right now though, my boat is going to leave in a little over half an hour."

"Goodbye."

"See you soon."

XXXXXXX

Authors Notes

In this story Ashley is 17 so her being taller than the Nurse Joy is possible

Brock has been asked to take over the Pewter City gym full time while Forrest goes on his journey

Please message me with possible OC's.

OC's along the lines of Takuto will not be accepted. I am quite capable of coming up with such characters on my own.


	3. The New Johto Journeys

When the boat that Ashley and Brock were on arrived at Olivine City Ashley went to the disembarkation point with her sole travelling companion and said "well, I'll see you later then Brock."

"Yeah sure thing Ash...uh, sorry, Ashley" Brock said scratching the back of his head.

"Yeah, sure thing, it's going to take some getting used to, but I guess I've got no choice really."

"Well, anyway, I'll see ya 'round."

"See ya when I get back to Kanto" Ashley said before going down the gangplank.

Brock said to himself "It's a pity that I have to leave, it would've been fun following her around for a while."

20 minutes later Ashley had gone through all of the procedures necessary to go into the Johto region and said to herself "hmm, what should I do now? Well, I suppose I could go to the..." just as she was saying this her stomach growled "...beach, first things first though...lunch. that said though, where is a restaurant?"

"Did you say restaurant?"

"Wha?" Ashley said "Who said that?" turning around she saw the person that talked to her and saw that she knew her.

"I did Ashley."

"Eh, how do you..."

"Professor Oak called the Olivine City Gym and told me that you were coming back to Johto."

"Eh, but how did you...alright, the Professor told you what I look like I suppose, but what are you doing in Olivine City in the first place Whitney?"

"Well, it just so happens, that jasmine is sick right now so I'm here to help her get better."

"Uh, I thought that she would be fine by herself...I mean, she does have that assistant of hers...oh, wait..."

"Oh wait is right."

"Fair enough then."

"So, what are you doing in Johto?"

"What, the professor didn't tell you?"

"Nope."

"Wait, more importantly why aren't you questioning me about what has happened?"

"Well, Professor Oak gave me a quick outline of what happened and I figure that you'll give me the in-depth version when you're ready."

"Heh, thanks..." Ashley said "...so, do you know where we can get something to eat?"

"Yeah, there's this neat little restaurant that I know that's on the waterfront."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"Alright" Ashley said, jumping up in the air causing her now sizeable tits to bounce around.

"Yeah, you might want to cut down on your jumping around a bit now."

"Why's that?"

"Well, you're kind of big."

"'Big,' what do you mean?"

"Up top..." seeing that Ashley still wasn't understanding what she was talking about said "Your tits already bounce around when your merely walking, aren't they?"

"Well, yeah, but eve said that that was natural for someone with a bust my size."

Whitney sighed and said "Yes, it is, but when you jump they bounce around even more."

"So?"

Whitney sighed again and said "look around us" clenching the bridge of her nose between the thumb and the forefinger of her right hand.

Ashley looked up and saw that all of the men in the area were looking in their direction with a weird look on their faces. She turned to Whitney and asked "why are they all staring at us?"

"They're staring because of you."

"Really? Why?"

"Well, for one thing, your already quite the beauty and then you just shook your tits all over the place."

"Ah, so that's what you were talking about."

Whitney sighed at seeing that what she was talking about had finally sunk in and said "the restaurant is this way" and walked off.

When they were outside the restaurant Ashley saw that it was a fish and chip shop with a few tables outdoors. Ashley went up to the counter and said "can I have some regular chips please?"

"Sure thing, do you want chicken salt on them?" the store worker asked.

"Sure thing" Ashley replied.

"Is the other lovely lady with you?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, so what'll it be?"

"I think I'll have a battered sav please."

"Alright, one battered sav and one regular chips coming right up."

After they ordered they sat down at one of the outdoor tables and Ashley asked "so, if you're here what's going on with your gym?"

"Oh, my younger brother is taking care of it for now."

"Really; Is he any good?"

"He's alright, for a rookie."

"A rookie! How long has he been a trainer for?"

"About three years now."

"Three years and he's a Gym Leader?"

"Yeah."

"Is that really all it takes?"

"Well, it helps that the Gym has been in the possession of my family for five generations now."

"Really?"

"Yeah, that and my grandfather has been training him for about six months now, so I thought that it would be the perfect opportunity to give him a taste of Gym Leader life."

"Heh, I wonder how he's taking to it" Ashley rhetorically asked.

"They're ready" the store worker called out.

Ashley went up to the bench and picked up the order, paying the man. When she got back Whitney said "I don't really know, being a gym leader is not only about taking care of and battling your Pokémon after all."

"Yeah, Misty told me."

"Oh yeah, that's right. You were travelling with two gym leaders the last time you were here, weren't you?"

"Yes."

"So, what happened to them?"

"Well, as far as I know Misty is still looking after her gym and Brock is on his way back to take care of the Pewter City Gym while his parents are on holiday, though I think that he plans to share the Gym Leader duties with his brother Forrest."

"I see, so, is he still as perverted as I remember, or has he settled down?"

"After I was gone for a few hours shopping he started hitting on me, if that gives you any indication."

"I see."

"Yah, 'I see' is right."

"So, you're all alone now?"

"You could put it that way."

"So-o-o, do you want a travelling partner?"

"Sure, I'd love it if you came along, but don't you have to go back to your gym?"

"Yeah, but my brother and grandfather can run that for a while, I sometimes need a break too ya know."

"Well, that's fine. For now though, what do you say we go for a swim, huh?" Ashley asked as they were finishing eating.

"Sure thing, that sounds great."

As the fish and chip shop was opposite the beach the two girls didn't have far to go. When they got to about 20 metres away from the water they put down their packs, took out their towels and, as they were already wearing their swimwear, in Ashley's case, a blue string-tie bikini and in Whitney's case, she had a white one piece swimsuit. Ashley bent over at her waist and started rummaging around in her backpack until she found what she had been looking for...a pair of black short board shorts. She put them on and the two girls walked down to the water and, when they were five metres away from the water Ashley saw something blue and red washed up on the shore. She said more to herself than to Whitney "is that what I think it is..."

Whitney turned to her friend and asked "is 'what' what you think it is?"

Ashley ran over to the blue and red object and said "I thought so" sighing.

"You thought what?" Whitney, at this point thoroughly confused, asked.

Ashley said "this poor Tentacool."

"Whaaaa?"

"This;"Ashley said hefting the injured pokemon so that Whitney could see.

"We better get it to the Pokémon centre right away."

"Yeah, you're right, I'll put it in a pokeball while we go there, maybe it'll at least help prevent it from getting any worse than it already is."

"Good idea."

With that said the two girls, Ashley holding the Tentacool, rushed back to their bags and, when they were there Ashley tapped the Tentacool with one of her pokeballs and then picked up her backpack and, not bothering to get changed back into her normal clothes, rushed off to the closest Pokémon centre; luckily that was very close as there was a trainer battle club building nearby.

When she got to the Pokémon centre Ashley rushed to the desk and, panting due to running the entire way, said to the Nurse Joy attending the desk "please...help..."

"Alright now, just calm down, take a few breaths and then tell me what's wrong?"

"This..." Ashley brought out the pokeball with Tentacool in it "...I just caught it just now."

"Alright, you caught a Pokémon, there's nothing to be panicking about."

"You don't understand, it's really hurt."

"Oh dear, here give it to me, I'll see what I can do."

"Thank you Nurse Joy."

"No problem" the Nurse Joy said, taking the pokeball away from Ashley and leaving for the emergency room of the Pokémon Centre.

One hour later the Nurse Joy returned from the emergency room and, seeing Ashley and Whitney waiting for any information on the Tentacool, walked over to them and said "Tentacool will be just fine."

Ashley sighed and said "oh thank god for that."

"I thought that you said that you only just caught that Tentacool as a saving grace type thing Ashley?"

"Well, I can't bear the thought of any Pokémon getting hurt that badly."

"Wait, you can't bear hurting Pokémon, yet you challenge gyms?" Whitney asked.

"Well, that's that and this is this."

"Well, if you say so."

"Well, all it needs is a good rest now" Nurse Joy said.

"Alright, how long?"

"Just overnight should do it."

All of a sudden Ashley, Nurse Joy and Whitney hear "Coming up on Johto Now, the Pokémon Swap Meet comes to Olivine City..." on the television.

Ashley said "The Swap Meet is here this year?"

"Yeah, have you been to one before?"

"Yeah, it was in Pompona Town."

"Oh, if it was there they would have had that stupid Tauros run, wouldn't they?"

"Yeah."

"You didn't try to..."

"Originally yeah, but then with an entire herd of them charging at me I quickly rethought it."

"Oh thank goodness" Nurse Joy said.

"Well, I won't be trying anything like that again I can assure you."

"Well, are you going to go there?"

"Yeah, I think that I'll take Tentacool as well."

"You're going to trade it?" Whitney asked.

"Yeah, why?"

"Well, I didn't think that you'd ever trade one of your Pokémon Ashley."

"Yeah well, I've never had any real desire to raise a Tentacool."

"That's fair enough I suppose."

"Besides, since I decided to go through here again I've been thinking that I just feel weird not having an electric type with me."

"I guess that makes sense." Whitney said.

"Well, Nurse Joy can I have a room for the..."

"You don't need to worry about that Ashley."

"What do you mean?"

"You can just stay with Jasmine and I tonight and then we can go to the meet together tomorrow."

"I don't want to impose..."

"It's no problem."

"Well, that's settled then...Oh, before we go, do you have any idea what could have caused Tentacool to be in that bad a condition Nurse Joy?"

"Well, there's a few things, first, a particularly tough Pokémon battle could have caused those wounds, an attack from another wild Pokémon possibly or..."

"Or what?"

"Well, there's been a hotel that opened up recently near where there is a supposed Tentacool nest."

"Oh no...I hope that it's not going to happen again then."

"You hope what is not going to happen again?"

"Well, the last time that a hotel was built near a Tentacool nest a war between humans and the Tentacool and a Tentacruel nearly broke out."

"Oh dear..." Nurse Joy said.

"Well, I suppose that as long as the hotel builders and occupants don't interfere with the Tentacool and Tentacruel, because I assure you there is almost definitely at least one Tentacruel there, there should be no problems."

"Well, good luck tomorrow then."

Ashley and Whitney simultaneously said "thanks Nurse Joy" and left the Pokémon Centre to go to the Olivine City Gym for the night.


	4. Ashley Revolts

When Ashley woke up the next day she got dressed, had a breakfast of jam on toast and then left the residence of Jasmine to go for a walk through Olivine City, eventually she found her feet drawing her in the direction of the Pokémon Centre. When she saw it in the distance she decided to go to check on how the Tentacool that she had left there the previous day was doing. When she had entered the Pokémon Centre she went up to the front desk and said "hi, my name's Ashley and I left my Gible here overnight."

"Ah yes, your Gible is just fine. Do you want me to get it for you?" the Nurse Joy manning the Pokémon Centre replied.

"Yes please." when she saw the Nurse Joy turn to walk off to get her Gible she asked "uh, when I left Gible here I also dropped off a Tentacool, and I was wondering how it was doing."

"Ah yes, it was severely hurt but after spending the night here in the Pokémon Centre it is as good as new."

"Oh thank goodness..." Ashley sighed in relief "...even if it is a Tentacool."

"What do you mean?"

"I've had numerous bad experiences in the past when I've dealt with Tentacool and Tentacruel."

"Oh dear, then I suppose you don't want to take it with you then."

"Not really."

"That's too bad."

"Why's that?"

"Well, it's going to need a trainer to look after it I'm afraid."

"Why's that?"

"This Tentacool has been under human care since it was born and I'm afraid that it will be unable to take care of itself in the wild."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"Well in that case I'll take care of it."

"Oh thank you. I would look after it here but with all my work at the Pokémon Centre I just don't have the time."

"That's alright."

"Well, I'll get your Pokémon for you then."

When the Nurse Joy returned with Ashley's Pokeballs Ashley said "Thank you for looking after them Nurse Joy."

"That's alright."

When Ashley exited the Pokémon Centre she saw a lot of people lining up outside a building. She went up to one of the people in the back and asked "hey, what's everybody lining up for?"

The person turned around and said "when asking a person a question isn't it customary to give them your name first?"

"Uh..." Ashley said "...right! My name's Ashley, what's yours?"

"Jake, now as to your previous question; this is the line to the Annual Pokémon Swap Meet."

"Isn't that held in Palmpona?"

"No, its location changes every year, I think that it was held there a few years ago though."

"I see."

"So, are you new in town?"

"Yeah, I only arrived yesterday, why?"

"Well, this thing has been advertised for weeks all throughout the Johto region."

"Really? This might be a good thing then."

"Why's that?"

"Well, I recently caught this Tentacool and I really don't want it myself."

"Really, why not? I mean, I know that it's not too strong now but if you evolve it into a Tentacruel it will get really big and powerful."

"I know, but in the past whenever I've come into contact with Tentacool or Tentacruel, they've been attacking me or my friends, once an entire colony even attacked an entire city!"

"I'm sure that they had their reasons."

"Yeah they did, good ones too, but even so..."

"I get it."

"Yeah..."

"Well, it looks like they're opening the doors."

5 minutes later Ashley had reached the entrance to the hall and saw that there were Pokémon battles occurring all over the place on a number of makeshift battlefields. She went up to an official looking person and asked "what's going on here, I thought that this was supposed to be the Pokémon Swap Meet, not a battle tournament?"

"It is" the official replied.

"Then why are there all these battles taking place?"

"Them, they are used as kind of a way to demonstrate and advertise a Pokémon's strength."

"I see."

"Do you want to enter in to one of the battles?"

"No no, I only just caught the Pokémon that I'm going to trade yesterday."

"I see, so then you will probably want to head over to the rooms through the door at the far right of this room."

"Okay, what's through there?"

"That's where all of the trading is done."

"Alright, thanks."

Ashley then started to walk over to the door that the official indicated but when she got halfway there she saw a battle being performed by a trainer with a Mareep against a trainer with a Rattata. After the trainer with the Mareep won the trainer of the Rattata walked over to the winning trainer and said "that was a great battle mate, do ya want to trade your Mareep for my Rattata?"

"Uh, thanks for the offer, but I'm really looking to trade for a water type" the Mareeps trainer replied.

"That's a shame, ah well; I hope we meet again then."

"I'm sure that we will."

Ashley, hearing that the Mareeps trainer was looking to trade for a water type, went over to him and said "hey, I heard that you're looking to trade for a water type?"

"Yes."

"Well, I've got a Tentacool that I'm looking to trade."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I got it yesterday."

"What?"

"You hard of hearing? I said I got it yesterday."

"You must be some second rate hack of a trainer if you're trying to get rid of it just like that."

"I'm no second rate trainer."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah!"

"Prove it."

"What?"

"You heard me, prove it."

"Prove it, prove it how?"

"Battle me."

"Well, alright. What are the rules?"

"How does a three on three sound to you?"

"Three on three? Uh, sorry, that's no good for me."

"What! Why?"

"Well, I've only got Tentacool and one other."

"You've only got two Pokémon?"

"Yeah, what of it?"

"Well, I suppose one on one will be alright then."

"Alright, let's go" Ashley said, walking towards the end of the field that the trainer of the Rattata had previously occupied.

"Don't hold anything back, you hear."

"I never intended to."

"Go Rill" the as yet unnamed trainer announced, throwing a pokéball towards Ashley. Out of the pokéball came an Azumarill.

Ashley said to herself "Azumarill huh, well I guess he really isn't holding back, in that case..." Ashley reached behind her back and grabbed a pokéball. She threw it towards her opponent and said "Gible, I choose you."

"Wha... you're using a ground type like Gible against my water type Azumarill?"

Ashley replied "I told you I only have two Pokémon didn't I, or did you think that I would use a Pokémon that I just caught against a Pokémon that has clearly been with you for quite some time?"

"Well, no, I..."

Ashley sighed and said "tell ya what, I'll even let you have the first move, how's that?"

"That will be both your first and last mistake."

In the crowd that was gathering around the battlefield that Ashley and her opponent were using were whispers of "who does she think she is" and "do you think that she knows who she's battling against?"

Ashley's opponent said "Rill, use Water Gun on Gible." The Azumarill launched a powerful, and large, stream of water straight at Gible.

Ashley said "Gible, use Dragon Pulse and aim it at the centre of that attack." Gible fired a green orb into the attack that pushed straight through the torrent of water, pushing the water to the sides, completely missing Gible. It didn't end there though, not only did it completely protect Gible from the powerful Water Gun, it continued on to hit the Azumarill, sending it skidding back a few feet. Ashley then said "it looks like you've trained your Azumarill well."

"I should think so" the opposing trainer replied.

"I was expecting your Azumarill to go flying from that."

"How arrogant can she be?" was heard in the crowd.

"I'm not arrogant" Ashley yelled, hearing what the crowd was saying.

"Never mind them..." Ashley's opponent said "...Rill, use Hydro Pump."

Ashley thought 'hmm, that trick with Dragon Pulse won't work this time, well then...' she then called out "use dig." Gible dug a hole in the ground, causing the high powered water attack to continue on past Ashley's head. Ashley then said "alright, now come up under Azumarill and use Rock Smash." The land-sharks dorsal fin came out of the ground and raced towards Azumarill. When it was close enough it came out from under the ground with a fist glowing whit but Azumarill, by command of its trainer, had jumped into the air and came down using Iron Tail to send Gible flying towards Ashley. Ashley said "alright Gible, use Dragon Pulse while Azumarill is still in the air." Gible gathered the energy to fire a Dragon Pulse but, before it could release the technique, the trainer returned the Azumarill in a beam of red energy. Ashley, surprised at the trainers action cried out "what did you do that for?"

Out loud the trainer said "the point of this match was to prove to me that you are not a second rate trainer that I thought you to be and you have, beyond a shadow of a doubt, proven that therefore there is no more reason to continue on with this battle." Inside though, he was thinking 'it wouldn't do to have one of the Hoenn Elite Four to be defeated at the hands of some nobody from the Sinnoh Region.' He then continued speaking "Why don't I give you this Mareep that I was looking to trade?"

"Well, thanks a lot, but like I told you before, I'm more than willing to trade my Tentacool for it. You did say that you were looking for a water type, right?"

"Well, yes."

"Well then, let's go."

"Alright" he said, while thinking 'what a weird young lady. She could have gotten that Mareep for free. I wonder why she still wanted to trade for it.' The two trainers started to walk away from the battlefield and he asked "so, why do you still want to trade your Tentacool?"

"Oh, that's easy."

"So?"

"Whenever I've run into a Tentacruel or even a Tentacool in the past, they've been attacking me and/or my friends. I normally like any Pokémon but when it comes to those two..."

"I see. They're usually a very calm and peaceful species, despite the name."

"Yeah, usually when I see them, humans were, for one reason or another, encroaching on their territory."

"So then you know that..."

"Yeah, but even so..."

"Fair enough."

"At that point they arrived at one of the Pokémon exchange machines. They went to the operator and said "we'd like to exchange our Pokémon if that's okay."

"That's fine..." the operator said "...just put your pokéballs into the slots provided and then leave the rest to me."

"Sure thing" Ashley and the Elite Four member simultaneously said.

They put their pokéballs into the slots provided and then the attendant pressed a button and the pokéballs disappeared into a weird silver light and, three seconds later, reappeared. The attendant said "alright, the trade is complete. Please come again."

The Elite Four member and Ashley then walked off. Ashley turned to the Elite Four member and asked "so, what _is_ your name?"

"I'm Zachariah, you?"

"Ashley."

"You're a pretty good trainer Ashley, have you been doing it for a long period of time?"

"Not really. I only received Gible a few months ago from my grandmother and have been training with it in my home town."

"A few months! The way you battled I would have thought that you'd been training Pokémon for years."

"Well I come from a village that tends to produce a lot of dragon trainers."

"Well, even so, you handled it very well during our battle. If you're ever in the Hoenn Region you might want to try your hand at challenging the gyms there."

"I'll make sure to do that."

"I'll be waiting for a rematch then."

"You better not let up in your training then."

"I've no intention of doing so. Well, I'll be seeing you later then Ashley."

"Yeah, good luck" Ashley said bidding farewell to Zachariah.

Just as they were about to exit the building and go their separate ways, a trainer came running back into the building and bumped into Zachariah, who fell down at the same time as the other trainer. Zachariah propped himself up with his arms behind his back and asked the trainer "what's got you so worked up?"

"I'm sorry..." the trainer said "...but I just traded my Gorebyss for a Crocanaw but when I tried to call it out the pokéball was empty."

"What?"

Ashley, who had been in similar situations before, asked "Which machine did you use?"

"I used the first one on the right in the first room on the left."

Ashley looked at Zachariah and started to ask "isn't that..."

"...The one that we just used?" Zachariah finished. They both tried to call out the Pokémon that they had just traded; only to find out that their pokéballs were just as empty as the trainer that they just met were. Zachariah said "we've been had."

"Way to state the obvious" Ashley said. the three trainers ran into the room that had the transfer machine that they had all used in it and Ashley, in a loud voice, demanded "alright, what have you done with our Pokémon?"

The attendant responded "I'm sorry, but I have no idea what you're talking about."

"I'm talking about the fact that we just used this machine to trade our Pokémon and now we don't have them."

"I'm sorry, if you have a problem why don't you try calling our customer service desk?"

"Your customer service..." Ashley trailed off furiously.

"Let me try" Zachariah said, putting a hand on Ashley's shoulder.

"Alright."

"Now, do you know who I am?" Zachariah asked the attendant.

"An irate customer" the attendant replied.

"I'm Zachariah of the Hoenn Elite Four. Now, can you please tell us exactly what happened to our Pokémon?"

'Oh dear lord, we just tried to swindle a member of the Elite Four of the Hoenn Region' the operator thought. She then said "I'm sorry sir, we were just closing for the day."

"'we', what do you mean 'we'?"

"'we', did I say 'we', I meant 'I', my shift is just finishing for today."

"This Pokémon Swap Meet is not run in shifts" someone from the managing committee of the Pokémon Swap Meet, who had just arrived, said.

"Uh, argh, god dammit. Fine, Frank, the gig's up" the operator said, knocking on the machine which, for some reason, sounded hollow. Behind the machine, where none of the gathered people could see a door opened and out stepped a man in a red uniform with a black 'R' emblazoned onto his jacket stepped out.

The man, frank, said to his partner "looks like it's time to skedaddle Christie."

The female, now identified as Christie, raised her hand and then quickly threw a ball onto the ground by her feet. The next thing the gathered people knew, the room was full of smoke. While the smoke was covering the entire room the duo, who, if you haven't already guessed, had been identified as members of Team Rocket, went out and stood on the ledge of the closest window, strapping on their backpacks. As the smoke cleared the people the team rocket agents swindled saw the two standing outside. The next thing that anybody knew they had jumped off the side of the building. There was a cry of 'no, don't do it' but after they jumped they pressed a button on their backpack releasing, essentially, a hang glider. Zachariah and Ashley rushed to the window and Ashley said "darn it, we just missed them."

"No need to worry" Zachariah said.

"Don't worry? Team rocket just got away with a lot of our Pokémon."

"I know..." Zachariah said, retrieving a pokéball from his belt "...go, Skarmory." A Skarmory appeared from the pokéball and Zachariah got on its back, he turned back to face Ashley and extending his hand and asked "well, what are you waiting for?"

Ashley took the proffered hand and say down on the steel flying type Pokémon behind Zachariah. When she was secure on Skarmoy's back she said "let's go."

Skarmory then took off after team rocket. When they were within earshot Zachariah called out "give back the Pokémon that you stole."

'"No way" Christie yelled back.

"You've got all the people hopes and dreams in that bag, give them back."

"Not happening" Frank called.

"Tseh, this isn't going anywhere, Skarmory, use swift on one side of their gliders."

"No wait..." Ashley called as Skarmory fired its attack at the gliders which, now that they were full of holes, were now completely useless, dropped to the ground, along with the two team rocket members. Luckily for them they had reached a forested area and the tree branches had somewhat provided them with enough resistance that they didn't break anything when they landed.

Frank, feeling his chest, arms and legs cried out "I'm alive, I don't know how it is, but I'm really alive."

"You got lucky, that's what happened" Ashley said, leaning against the trunk of a tree.

"Yeah, I guess that I...wait a second, you're not Christie."

Ashley smirked and said "very observant. Now, you, while still alive, are in serious trouble."

"If you're looking for trouble" frank said.

"Then you might as well make it double" Christie said, walking into the small clearing from somewhere.

"To infect the world with devastation."

"To unite the peoples within every nation."

"To denounce the evils of truth and love."

"To reach the stars above."

"Christie."

"Francis."

"Team rocket, blasting off day and night."

"Surrender now for you will surely lose this fight."

"Hmm, it's kind of different to the one that I usually hear."

"Do you know these people Ashley?"

"Not these two, but I have had a brush in with some Team Rocket agents on my way here."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"Were they as lame as these two?"

"Just about."

"Hey, don't insult the motto" Christie said.

"I'll do what I want, when I want and right now, I want those Pokémon you stole back."

"Well too bad Jiggly, you can't have them."

"Jiggly? What do you...Ah, I get it. Are you jealous, Matchstick?"

"Matchsti..." Christie growled out, her face turning red in fury.

"Uh, you really shouldn't have done that" Francis said.

"Really, why's that? All I did was point out that has no..."

"Right. That's it. Pokémon battle. You. me. Right now" Christie said, rage completely taking over her.

"okay sure thing Matchstick. Go Gible" Ashley said, throwing the pokéball containing Gible.

"A Gible, hey Christie, isn't that an exceedingly rare Pokémon?" Francis asked his partner.

"I don't care about that."

"Wha...?"

"Come on Matchstick, are we going to battle or not?"

"Yes we are, come on out, Houndour" Christie shouted.

"Gible, use Rock Smash on Houndour." Gible ran up to Houndour and hit it with the rock type move and Houndour flew up in the air.

"Houndour, flip in the air and use Flamethrower when you land."

"Gible, use Dragon Pulse" Ashley said almost as if she was bored. Gible used Dragon Pulse and Houndour went flying from the clearing and of into the distance.

"Ahh! Houndour!" Christie cried.

"Ashley, I'll finish this if you don't mind?" Zachariah offered.

"By all means" Ashley replied.

"Thank you. Swampert, I choose you..." Zachariah said, throwing a pokéball into the air "...use Hydro Cannon." Swampert let out a powerful burst of water, sending Francis and Christie off into the distance in the same direction as Houndour. "So, what do you say that we return, these, to the people at the Pokémon Swap Meet?" Zachariah asked.

"Sounds like a plan to me" Ashley replied.

5 minutes later Ashley and Zachariah had flown back to the building that the Annual Pokémon Swap Meet was being held at and were in the process of handing back the Pokémon that had been stolen by Francis and Christie had stolen when Whitney walked to where they were, figuring that Ashley would, going by past experiences, be involved in any situation. When she saw that her instincts were correct, she said "hey Ashley how's Tentacool?"

"It's just fine, I was actually in the process of trading it to Zachariah here when Team Rocket showed up."

"What, again?"

"Yeah. Well, we handled it and got all of the Pokémon that they stole back. Now..." Ashley said as she handed the last pokéball back to its trainer "...we can complete the trade."

"A-a-are, you..." Zachariah sighed "...Zachariah of the Hoenn Elite Four?" Whitney asked in something akin to awe.

"Yes I am, why?"

"If I'd known that you'd be here I would have called my second cousin to come here."

"Why is that?"

"He just loves water type Pokémon. Right now he's training to become a Pokémon Breeder that specialises in water types."

"Really? Where does your cousin live? I'd like to pay your cousin a visit. I'm always interested in new ways to take care of my Pokémon."

"Well, we've never really been that close, me being a normal type trainer. But the last I heard he was living on Yellow Rock Island."

"Alright, I was meaning to go there anyway."

"Well, tell him that I say 'hi' when you get there."

"Sure thing" Zachariah said as the trade was completed.

"Come on out Mareep" Ashley said, releasing her newly traded Pokémon.

"Well, it would seem that my business here has been completed. Good day ladies" Zachariah said, walking off.

Whitney turned to Ashley and asked "so, Team Rocket up to their usual tricks then?"

"Yeah, though this time it was a pair that I've never seen before."

"Really?"

"Yeah, there must be a recruitment process."

"Well, I think that we should leave such things to the Pokémon G-men."

"Yeah, you're probably right."

"I wonder what happened to the two with a Meowth that I met with you before."

"Last I saw of them they were in the Sinnoh region. Who knows where they are now."

"I suppose that's a good thing."

"Yeah, well let's not count the Pidgey before they hatch eh; or should that be Miltank?"

"Not funny" Whitney said.

"I thought it was."

"Well, maybe just a little."

"Why don't we head back to the gym for now?"

"sure thing."


	5. Speed vs Power

20 minutes later Ashley and Whitney arrived at the Gym and Whitney opened the door that she had received from jasmine for use while she was sick and let Ashley walk through first. Whitney, when they were both inside, asked "so, have you had breakfast yet?"

"Yeah, I had some jam on toast before I left."

"Well, that's alright then. Hey, why'd you trade Tentacool for a Mareep?"

"Well, I've been thinking back on all of my journeys so far and I realised that my only electric type is Pikachu. I mean, I know that type isn't everything, and I'm still lacking in Dark and Steel types, but I've got multiple Grass, Fire, Water and Ground types, along with many Flying types. I mean, I've always been happy with Pikachu as my only one and I've got no regrets about anything I have done up to this point. However..."

"Now that you don't have Pikachu with you..."

"Yeah, I've suppose that I never really consciously thought about it before now, it's just that now I'm coming to realise what I've done in the past and what I should probably do differently this time."

"Well, this should be quite the interesting journey then."

"Why's that?"

"I'll get to see just how much you've grown since our Gym Battle at Uncle Milton's farm."

"Okay then, how about a battle?"

"Sounds good to me. Any specific rules in mind?"

"well, I'm going to use Mareep, so how does one on one sound?"

"Alright then. I'm sure that there'll be no problems with using the gyms battlefield."

"Alright, let's do it."

With that the two girls arrived at the gyms battlefield to see Jasmines apprentice about making use of the battlefield. When they walked out onto the battlefield they saw that one of jasmine's apprentices was teaching a class of students who wished to become Pokémon trainers. He was saying "now, here in the Olivine City Gym we specialise in steel type Pokémon, now, can any of you tell me what Pokémon the Gym Leader uses?"

A student raised his hand and said "Steelix, Magnemite and Magneton."

A girl bumped him on the head and said "no it's not, once she returned from the Sinnoh region she evolved her Magneton into a Magnezone and she also caught a wild Shieldon that she uses in her Gym Battles."

"That is correct" the teacher said "now..."

"Uh, sorry to interrupt..." Ashley said from behind the teacher, tapping him on the shoulder "...do you mind if we use the field?"

"No, not at all."

"Okay thanks" Ashley said before turning to walk back to where Whitney was standing.

"Uh..." the teacher trailed off.

"Yes, what is it?" Ashley asked turning her head to look over her shoulder at the teacher.

"Would you mind if the students watched your match?"

"I don't mind, what about you whiney?"

"No I'm good."

"There you go, no problems at all" Ashley said to the teacher.

"Thank you, it's just that it's not often that the students get to see Jasmine battle."

"Really?" Ashley asked.

"Yeah."

"Why not?"

"She claims that it might distract the trainer going for a badge."

"oh, I see. Just be aware that this isn't a Gym Battle, alright."

"That's fine, as long as you both try your hardest to win, that's all that matters."

"Alright..." Ashley turned to Whitney "...so, do you want the left or the right?"

"Doesn't matter to me."

"I'll take the right side then."

"Then I've got the left."

The two female trainers walked to the ends of the battlefield that they had chosen and Ashley called out "do we need a judge?"

"No it's a one on one battle and the first Pokémon unable to battle loses."

"Alright then. Come on out Mareep" Ashley said throwing a pokéball away from herself.

"Go, Rattata" Whitney said at the same time as she threw a pokéball towards Ashley. They simultaneously caught their respective pokéball and Whitney said "alright Ashley, you can have the first move."

"Thanks Whitney. Mareep, use Thundershock."

Mareep launched the rather weak attack and Whitney called out "Rattata, dodge that and use quick attack." Rattata dodged the electric attack and ran towards Ashley's Mareep so fast that a white streak formed behind it.

Ashley called out "Mareep, dodge that." Mareep tried to get away from Rattata's Quick Attack, but was just too slow and got hit by it.

"Now, use Super Fang" Whitney said.

Rattata's extended two front teeth glowed white and it bit down on Mareeps neck. Mareep started to try and shake it off, but failed miserably. Ashley said to herself "wait a minute, in a situation like this..." then called out "Mareep, use Thundershock now."

"Oh no, Rattata, get out of there" Whitney cried out as she realised what Ashley was doing. Unfortunately it was too late as, by the time that she had finished speaking Mareep had already poured a lot of electricity directly into Rattata. When Mareeps Thundershock finished Rattata struggled to get up. When it was back on all fours again Whitney said to herself "well, I'm not going to try that again. Mareep is rather slow, which means..." then in a louder voice she said "alright Rattata, use quick attack again."

"Oh damn" Ashley said.

"Mareeps response time to your commands may be extremely fast Ashley, but its physically incredibly slow. Rattata, use Quick Attack again but this time aim for Mareeps side."

"Wha..." Ashley trailed off as her mapped was both knocked on its side and knocked out. She sighed and said "you're as good as you ever were Whitney."

"You almost had me there Ashley."

"Yeah, then you went back to using speed attacks."

This conversation was going on as they returned their Pokémon. They then walked to the middle of the field and shook hands before heading over to the class.

Ashley asked "so, how was that kids?"

The boy that had answered the teachers question when Ashley and Whitney walked into the room said "it was awesome, but why did you use Quick Attack at the end of the battle rather than Super Fang, which is a more powerful move."

"Well, that's easy..." Whitney said "...when my Rattata bit down on Ashley's Mareep before Ashley used the opportunity to use Mareeps most powerful move on it."

"But Mareep can use more powerful moves than Thundershock."

"Yes. That is true, that Mareep can learn more powerful attacks however, if it doesn't know those powerful moves, then it's not really much use, is it?"

"I guess not...but you still haven't answered my question, why use quick attack?"

"Sometimes in a battle power isn't the only thing that matters."

"What?"

"Think of it this way, Electavire is stronger than say-y-y, a Pikachu right?"

"Well yeah, of course. An evolved Pokémon will always be stronger than an unevolved Pokémon of the same type."

"Well, even if Electavire is more powerful, if it can't hit Pikachu, then what is the point to having all the extra power?"

"I see, so you're saying that because Whitney knew that because her Pokémon was faster than yours she used speed instead of power?"

"You could look at it that way."

"Geez, there's more to battling than I thought."

"Well, just keep it in mind, there's more to battling than just speed and power as well."

"What do you..."

"Just think about it yourself. At times you need also need to think things through. Believe me, I wish that someone told me that long ago."

"Hai Ashley-sensei."

"Uhh, right. Well, goodbye" Ashley said before leaving with Whitney to take their Pokémon to the Pokémon Centre to have them healed.


	6. Back on the Road

A few days later jasmine was all better and, after suggesting that, when her Mareep evolved into Flaafy she should try and teach it _Iron Tail_, after agreeing to the suggestion Ashley and Whitney left the Olivine City gym and headed on out towards Ecruteak City on the way to the bug catching contest that Whitney had seen a sign for when they were in Olivine City. When they were walking through the forest a Burmy dropped down in front of the two women. Ashley, seeing that it was severely injured, knelt next to it and, remembering that she didn't pack any potions to heal her Pokémon with, looked at Whitney and said "I don't have anything to heal it with...do you?"

Whitney replied with a weird look on her face "no, I forgot to get some as well..."

"Well then, we need to get this poor Burmy to a Pokémon Centre right away!"

"Hmm..." Whitney said, thinking back to her childhood "...there's no Pokémon centre nearby..."

"What? How would you know that? Don't you need to, you know, grow up in the same town as the Gym is to become a Gym Leader?"

"Yeah, I did, but I was born in Ecruteak City. You see, when I was a child I was terrified of ghosts... and, well, you've been there before, what is the most prominent Pokémon type that trainers from there use?"

"Well, I suppose there's a ghost type gym so..."

"Indeed, so, my family moved to Goldenrod City after my father managed to get transferred to the Goldenrod City branch of the company he worked for."

"I see" Ashley said. "So what do we do now?"

"Hmm..." Whitney said, trying to think of some way to save the Burmy that was lying on the ground in front of them. As she was running down memory lane trying to think of any berry trees nearby that had fruit that had healing properties. She couldn't remember any anywhere nearby from her childhood. She then thought back not so distant to when she was in the Pokémon centre, when she was searching for Ashley. The nurse joy there had given her two Heal Balls, one for her and one for Ashley, because of their obvious care for the health and safe-being of the Tentacool that they found on the beach. After Whitney remembered the Heal Balls she rummaged around in her pack until she found them and withdrew them from her pack. She gave Ashley one and asked "so, do you want to capture it?"

"No, it's all yours."

"Alright, thanks" Whitney said as she turned back to the Burmy and tapped it with the Heal Ball, at once capturing and healing it. The two females then continued on to Ecruteak City.

_A/N:

Sorry if this chapter is a bit lame but I left it for quite some time before going  
back and finishing it.


	7. Ashley Takes Flight

a/N:

Normal Human Talk  
_Pokédex Talk_

When Ashley and Whitney arrived in Ecruteak City they found that, to Whitney's horror, there was a Ghost Pokémon festival being held. Since it was the middle of the day they rushed through the City, not bothering to stop to eat. They kept on walking through the rest of the day and, at 5 o'clock they set up their camp for the night.

The bug catching contest was being held in two days to they decided to go to Goldenrod City, Whitney's hometown to rest up before the contest. Unfortunately Whitney's complete lack of a sense of direction had them utterly lost and it reached dusk of the next day. They set up camp for the night.

The next day they stumbled across a path that Whitney recognised as the main road into Goldenrod City from Ecruteak City. They followed the road until they came to an intersection. Unfortunately for the two women the signpost that had the names of the cities that each of the paths led to had deteriorated and the Pokémon League Council(1) had yet to repair them. Whitney announced, "Right, this way it is."

Ashley placed a hand on her friends shoulder and said, "Alright Whitney, I've had just about enough of your decisions getting us lost. We're going in the opposite direction of your decisions from now on, alright?"

"But I'm really certain that Goldenrod City is this way," Whitney said, pointing in the direction that she wished to go.

"Yes, I'm sure you are, that's exactly why I'm saying that it is this way" Ashley shot back, dragging Whitney behind her as she walked away from where Whitney wished to go. After a while Whitney relented in her struggles and Ashley let her go. They continued in the direction that they were going until eleven o'clock when they came upon a city. It was Violet City.

Ashley dropped to her knees in shock and said "I don't believe it...Whitney was actually right. Wait! The Bug-Catching Contest! There's no way that we will be able to..." just as Ashley was announcing her commiserations she heard multiple 'caws' from far above them. As Whitney was about to launch into a bout of 'I told you so's' Ashley said, "Wait a second," and looked up. What she saw gave her a new measure of hope. It was a flock of birds circling around almost directly above them. Ashley pointed her Pokédex at them and it returned, _"Braviary. Usually only found in the Unova Region, they are known to migrate, for what reason is currently unknown. They will fight for their friends without any thought about danger to themselves. One can carry a car while flying."_ Ashley said, "Alright then, if taking them on one at a time won't work then I'll need to take them all out at once." Ashley drew a Pokéball from her belt and said, "Come on out, Gible," as she threw the ball up in the air.

As Gible materialised Whitney asked, "Uh, not to ruin the mood or anything, but what exactly are you planning on doing?"

"You'll see," Ashley replied. "Alright Gible, use Draco Meteor on that flock of Braviary, and hit them all at the same time."

As Gible charged a Draco Meteor Whitney asked "what is that going to do?"

"You'll see," Ashley smugly replied as Gible let the orange ball of energy fly. The orange ball rose up into the sky and settled in the centre of the circling flock and exploded outwards into a shower of meteors. It knocked all of the Braviary away from each other, knocking them unconscious. Two of them fell directly down and collapsed on top of Ashley and Whitney. Ashley drew the Heal Ball from her belt and tapped the Braviary on top of her on its head, sucking it into the ball. The ball didn't even bother shaking before 'pinging', signifying that the capture was successful. Ashley stood up and walked over to the one that was on top of Whitney and caught it too. She released that one before she released the one in the Heal Ball, not wishing the healthy one to see its friend injured. Ashley rummaged through her pack until she came upon the item that she had been searching for. It was a dispenser of Pokéblock that she had made while she was in Olivine City that consisted solely of Sitrus Berry; as such it had enough healing power to almost completely heal the injured flying type. Ashley bent down to the birds head and opened its beak. She quietly said, "Here you go, eat this, it'll make you feel better," getting no reaction she opened its beak for it and placed it in its mouth for it to eat it. It chomped it a bit and, almost instantaneously, it was completely healed. It stood up and nudged Ashley in her shoulder, thanking her for the medicinal Pokéblock. Ashley then released the other Braviary from its Ball and, to her surprise, the two Braviary saw each other and raced (read waddled) to each other and their next actions could almost be construed as them hugging each other.

One of them squawked "what happened?"

"Well, I'm assuming that this lady attacked our flock..." the one that Ashley had caught in the Heal Ball moved to attack her, but, before it could, the one that she had given the Pokéblock to said, "But then she healed me with this really good tasting block of food."

The other Braviary squawked, "Really?"

The first one squawked, "Yeah, so she can't be that bad, besides, she seems like she could bring us same great battles."

"Well then, I suppose I'll see what it'll be like with her, I warn you though, if she doesn't I'm leaving" the fully healed Braviary squawked to its friend.

"Okay, so you two're now part of my team, alright?" the two Braviary nodded in reply. "Good, first thing that you've got to do, get up to a Contest in that direction," she said pointing towards the Bug-Catching Contest Area.

The one that Ashley caught in the Heal Ball looked at its friend as if to say "Are you absolutely sure about this?"

The other Braviary, as it turned its back to Whitney, looked back at its friend, silently communicating, "yes, I am." With its friends agreeing to Ashley's demands it turned its back to Ashley, allowing her to get on its back. The two Braviary then took off in the indicated direction.

A/N:

(1) The Pokémon League Council is the governing body for the Kanto and Johto Regions.


	8. Enter The Bug Catching Competition

A/N:

I think that this is the first time that I have ever directly addressed the reviewers' remarks, so here goes...

Caellach Tiger Eye

I started this story _before _the Sinnoh League Competition had been aired in the anime. If there are any discrepancies other than that, please let me know through a private message.

xbamsod

I currently don't have any plans to bring Dawn back into the picture, if there are enough reviews requesting such, then I will gladly do so.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

As Ashley and Whitney raced through the sky on the back of Ashley's two flying types Ashley let out yells of joy and exhilaration. Whitney, on the other hand, was letting out cries of fear. She was also clinging to her Braviary's neck feathers as tight as she could, causing the Braviary to wobble in midair. Of course that did nothing whatsoever to alleviate her fear. Ashley called out to her friend "hey Whit, what's wrong?"

Whitney shouted back, "What's wrong? What's wrong you say? I'll tell you what's wrong. Humans were meant to stay on the ground, that's what's wrong with this situation."

Ashley laughed at her friends, in her opinion, irrational fear and said, "Calm down, we're almost there. See, you can see the entrance in the distance."

Sure enough, when Whitney mustered the courage to look up from Braviary's neck she say a building rising up out of the trees, causing her to sigh in relief and exclaim, "oh thank God," then she clung Braviary's feathers harder than before.

Ashley quietly commented to her Braviary "I'm surprised that your friend hasn't dropped her yet." Her Braviary nodded in agreement with his trainers statement. Ashley then said aloud, "Alright bring us down to the ground," as they reached the building that they had been aiming to get at for the past five days.

When they touched down there was an officious looking person tapping their foot on the ground, glaring at the two women. He demanded "just what do you two think you're doing?"

Ashley replied, "Trying to make it in time to register for this competition," as if it should be the most obvious thing in the world.

"Well in doing so you've probably managed to scare off most of the bug Pokémon that we have here."

"Really? That's strange. There should still be more than enough for the competition, after all the wind _is_ blowing away from the area. It's actually more surprising that we got here in time."

"Huh?" the official asked, stunned that the, in his opinion, inferior being could actually make a solid argument.

"What're you on about," Whitney asked as she came up to the two. Seeing who was assaulting her friend Whitney said, "oh, it's you Briar."

"Whitney! I...uhh...didn't recognise you, after all, with your fear of flying and all..." the official, now identified as Briar, grudgingly said.

"Now, you were about to tell us if we were too late to register or not," Whitney stated more than asked.

"Yes well, you're just in time we were actually about to lock the doors when you came you see."

"Oh dear! Let's hurry Ashley," Whitney said, looking at her friend.

"Yeah, looks like we have to" Ashley replied.

The two women rushed through the doors of the building and to the desk and, just as they were about to close the books (read program), they simultaneously said, "we're here to register for the Bug-Catching Competition."

The registration official stopped what he was doing and looked up at them. Seeing Whitney he said "well, you're in luck then, I was just about to finalise the competitor list. Can I please have your names?"

"You should know me, Blair, it's me, Whitney."

"And I'm Ashley, Ashley Ketchum."

"Alright then," Blair said, "Whitney and Ashley..." he typed their names into the system "...there we go, all done. You two are now registered for the Bug-Catching Competition."

"Thanks," Ashley said.

"Thanks a lot Blair. What I want to know though, is why I don't see you around anymore."

"I'm sorry Whit, it's my father. You know what he's like."

Whitney sighed and said, "Yeah, I do...tell you what, after this competition is done lets go to the gym for a soda, alright?"

Blair smiled self-deprecatingly and replied "sure, if I can get off work."

As Whitney was talking to her old friend a black haired whirlwind sped up to Ashley and glomped her from behind Ashley, shocked, froze as she heard "nee-san!"

Whitney, turning to see what was causing her old friend to get a nosebleed, intelligently asked "huh?"

A blue haired girl walked up and said, "I'm sorry for my friends behaviour, but as you can see, it's been a long time since Amelia has seen her brother, or sister I suppose."

Ashley looked at the girl and asked "Michelle? Then that means that..." Ashley turned her head and, through her peripheral vision, saw a black head of hair behind her back and exclaimed "Amelia!"

Amelia let go of her sister and Ashley turned around to see her with tears in her eyes. She knelt down and brought her sister into a hug, as Amelia said "Ash...I...I..."

Ashley smiled as she rested her head against her sisters head and said "It's alright, really."

Amelia sniffed up her tears and said, "I heard what happened...so...how did it happen, really?"

"Well, Dawn did something, we're not sure what, and then I woke up like this. That's all there is to it."

"Well then it's decided."

"Huh? What's decided?"

"I'll never forgive her."

"Huh?" Whitney asked, turning to look at Michelle.

Michelle sighed and said "you need to understand, Amelia and Ash only really had each other when they were growing up, and then Ash left on his journey. Now, they meet the first time in almost three years, and Ash, well, isn't Ash anymore."

"I see. But I thought that Ashley usually stopped back in Pallet Town before setting out on her next journey."

"Yeah, but the last two times Amelia wasn't there, she was on vacation with me and my family the first time and the second time we were on a field trip to the Seafoam Islands."

"I see."

Meanwhile Ashley and Amelia had walked over to the seating area and Ashley asked "so, Amelia, how'd you go in the Indigo League?"

"Alright, I got into the Top 16 like you, but when I did I only had Beedrill, Clefable and Farfetch'd to use, the rest of them were either tired from battling or hadn't really battled with me before."

"I see, tough break, although at least you didn't lose because one of your Pokémon wouldn't obey you."

"Yeah, there is that. That was pretty funny you've got to admit."

"Yeah well I didn't think so" Ashley laughingly commented.

"No, I suppose not."

"So, are you here for the Bug-Catching Contest too sis?"

"Yeah, but I thought that it was restricted to people under the age of fourteen."

"Yeah, that used to be the case, but this year they changed it to attract more customers. Apparently the last few years there weren't really big turnouts."

"It appears as though it worked, doesn't it Ashley?" a man, sitting across from the Ketchum siblings, asked looking up from his paper.

Ashley looked up and half-asked, half-stated, "Zachariah?"

"The one and only," the Elite Four member cockily replied.

"Uhh...sis, who is this guy?" Amelia asked.

Zachariah lost his cool demeanour at receiving almost the same reaction from the younger Ketchum as he did from the elder. "Oh come on, surely at least one of you two sister would recognise me without my needing to tell you?"

"Nope, sorry Ossan" Amelia stated.

"Ossa..." Zachariah trailed off. He then shouted, "I'll have you know that I'm only 22"

"Really!" Amelia exclaimed, "I thought that you would've been older."

Zachariah raised his hand and rubbed the bridge of his nose as he complained, "the reputation of the Hoenn Elite Four has really dropped if I'm not being recognised on sight anymore."

"You're an Elite Four member?" Amelia stated derisively.

"Yeah, you got a problem with that?"

Amelia scoffed and said "you don't look like much."

As Amelia said that Michelle heard her, rushed over and bonked her on the head saying, "Jesus Amy, almost one and a half years and you still can't show the proper respect..." she then turned to Zachariah, bowed, and said "...I apologise for my friends offensive behaviour sir. Please forgive her."

"Uhh...there's no problem, really," Zachariah said, smiling and waving his hands in front of him, "I've kind of come to expect such a thing from Ashley's family. So...uh...who's this?" Zachariah asked, looking at Ashley.

"Zachariah, allow me to introduce you to my sister, Amelia," Ashley said as she pointed at her sister, "and her best friend, and coordinator, Michelle."

"Oh, you're a coordinator are you?"

"Yeah, why?"

"So I take it that you'll be competing against Ashley in the Grand Festival will you?"

"Grand Festival?" Michelle asked, looking at Zachariah as if he had a screw loose. "Why would I do a thing like that?"

"Well, isn't that your goal, the Grand Festival?"

"Yes, it is mine, but Ashley is aiming for the Johto League Championship, not the Grand Festival."

"Huh, could've fooled me."

"Huh?" Michelle and Amelia asked simultaneously.

"Well, she did a pretty good job at using contest moves against me."

The two younger girls looked accusingly at Ashley, who blushed and scratched the back of her head. Amelia demanded, "Alright, spill."

"Well, we met when I just got to the Johto Region and I battled against his Azumarill with my Gible, though in the end there was no conclusion to the battle."

"Alright, Gible against Azumarill...how is that a contest battle?"

"Hmm..." Zachariah said "...I think that they make tapes of the Pokémon Swap Meet, you'll be able to see what we're talking about if you look at the most current one."

"Well, alright" Amelia said, annoyed at the delay.

"Hey, wait a second...if I remember correctly, you said that you were from the Sinnoh Region, right Ashley?"

"Yeah. What of it?"

"Well, Amelia and Michelle are clearly from the Kanto Region."

"Yeah, and?"

"Well, how come Amelia is referring to you as her sister?"

Amelia started sweating as she stumbled over her words, searching for an explanation. Ashley though, kept a cool head and replied, "We're actually cousins on our fathers' side."

"I see. Well, alright then," Zachariah said, having the sneaking suspicion that he was being lied to.

As Ashley came up with an excuse for her and her sisters' actions a message over the buildings P.A. System, saying "Alright contestants, we will be starting to hand out the Park Balls and CSD's at the front desk."

When she heard the unfamiliar terms of 'Park Ball' and 'CSD' Amelia turned to her sister and asked, "Hey, sis, what're Park Balls and CSD's?"

"Well a Park Ball is a kind of Pokéball that is unique to the Bug Catching Competition. You'll need to check with Whitney, but I think that when your brother went through here Park Balls and CSD's were just starting to being used..."

"Why're they unique to the Bug Catching Competition?"

"Yes, why is that?" Zachariah and Michelle simultaneously asked, just as curious as Amelia was, though for vastly different reasons to Amelia's. Zachariah and Michelle only wanted to gain more knowledge than they had before whereas Amelia wanted to know what they were purely because she always wanted to know everything about an item that she was about to use before doing so.

"Well, the Park Balls work in conjunction with the CSD's to allow a trainer to capture two Pokémon with the same ball."

"But the rules of this competition clearly state that trainers may submit only one Pokémon for judging," Michelle said.

"Yes, and I would get to that if you didn't interrupt me Mikki. Now, where was I?,,,Ah yes, why're Park Balls unique to the Bug Catching Competition..."

"No!" Mikki growled at her friends sibling, you were going to tell us why you can capture two Pokémon when you can only submit one for judging."

"Ah yes...well that's where the CSD's come in. CSD, as you can probably guess, is an acronym. It stands for Capture Switch Device. The CSD allows you to discard one Pokémon in favour of another. It also allows you to view its stats, such as its attacks and its Pokédex data."

"She's right, in the past before you caught another Pokémon for judging you needed to release the one that you currently had in your Pokéball" Whitney said as she heard Ashley explaining the technology used in the competition. "Now that they have developed the CSD's you no longer need to run the risk of capturing a Pokémon and then regretting that you let the last one go before capturing the newest one."

"Hmm, so it would be safe to say that the CSD's utilise Pokémon storage technology to undertake their tasks?" Mikki asked.

"I suppose so, but if you want to know the technical details of them then you would be better off coming to the Goldenrod City Gym after the Bug Catching Competition."

"Really? Why's that?"

"Because, one of my friends is one of the caretakers of the area that we will be using for the Bug Catching Competition and he'll be coming there then."

"Wait! What are you, the Gym's cleaning lady?" Amelia asked. Whitney struggled to contain her laughter at what Amelia said and, after less than a second had passed, she burst out laughing, holding her stomach in mirth. "What? Did I say something terribly funny?"

Seeing that the gathered trainers were looking at her like she was crazy, Whitney said, "no no, it's just that Ashley asked me the exact same question when I mentioned the Goldenrod City Gym too."

Amelia looked at Ashley, who smiled, scratched the back of her head, and said "don't we need to go get those Park Balls and CSD's?" not wanting to continue down the road of the similarities between her and Amelia as had been done so many times before. The gathered trainers realised the change in subject, but decided to go along with Ashley's suggestion, as they really _did _need to get them anyway. They moved to the reception desk and retrieved the Park Ball's and CSD'S and went into the park. As they were the last ones to enter there was nobody in the area of the entrance when the trainers gathered. Ashley said, "Well, I'm headed this way," as she walked off directly away from the door that they had just exited.

Amelia shouted out "hey, wait up!" as she ran after her sister.

Whitney said, "Well, I'm going this way," as she indicated to the right with her thumb.

"Hey, I'll go with," Mikki said, walking after Whitney.

"Well, looks like I'm the odd one out," Zachariah commented as he moved off to the left.


	9. Ashley & Amelia

As the two sisters left the others Ashley said, "So Amy, what kind of Pokémon have you caught on your adventures in the Johto Region so far?"

"So far I've got a Totodile, Pichu, Ledian and a Snubbull."

"Not bad."

"What about you?"

"So far it's just the Mareep that I traded with Zachariah and the two Braviary that Whit' 'n' I rode in on. What are you hoping to catch in here?"

"I'm not really all that fussed, as long as it's a bug type. Although I think that I would like a land-bound one to go with my Beedrill."

"I see, so variety is your taste huh?"

"My taste?"

"Yeah, there was this really annoying guy on my boat trip over that kept on about the 'taste' of a Pokémon's bond with their trainer. Complete crap if you ask me, but eh, whatever floats your boat." To Ashley's confusion her sister started laughing uncontrollably in a weird way that sounded like 'si-si-si-si-si-si', which prompted a tall, red, bug/steel type Pokémon to appear. Seeing that the one that was making the sound was not another Scizor the Scizor started to walk away before Ashley yelled, "Hey! Wait a second you. I'm gonna catch you." The Scizor turned and looked at before making a dismissive sound and turning away again. Ashley said, "Gible, I choose you." The Scizor, seeing the Pokémon that Ashley called out, frowning in anger before, without warning, its claws glowed red. It then disappeared before reappearing behind Gible and hitting it. The attack itself was rather weak, but the difference in power between the two Pokémon increased the damage inflicted upon Gible. After Scizor's attack it retreated away from Gible, not letting the Fury Cutter drop. Gible, irritated at the Bug Type, got straight back up ready to attack. Ashley called, "Gible, use Dragon Pulse." Gible quickly formed an orb of green energy in front of its mouth and, before Gible fired it, Ashley said, "Alright Gible, eat it." Gible then ate the Dragon type move, causing the bands around its tail and the 'jets' at the side of its head to glow green.

Amelia, who had long since regained a standing position, asked, "Hey sis', what the hell just happened."

Ashley smirked and said, "Just you watch. Gible, use Rock Smash." Gible's arm gained a bright red aura that surrounded it, before disappearing, just as Scizor previously had, and slamming it into the back of the Bug Type. Gible, without waiting for Ashley's command, shot a Dragon Pulse, twice the size of the previous one, at the falling Scizor, knocking it out. Ashley tossed her Park Ball at the downed Scizor, capturing it easily.

"So a Pokémon eating one of their own attacks can actually increase its power?"

"Well, I'm not sure if it would work for every Pokémon, but it has worked with Dawn's Mamoswine and my Torterra, I figured...why the hell not, after all it's not like we really had anything to lose."

"Hmm...I wonder..."

"I would advise against trying it out with any of your Johto Pokémon just yet."

"Okay, why?"

"Simple, they probably don't have the constitution to handle all that extra power. Besides, none of them have a mouth large enough to eat an attack."

"Well, that's true, so why Scizor?"

"I have actually wanted a Scizor for a long time now."

"Why? If you come up against a fire type with it it'll be decimated."

"Not necessarily, or have you forgotten my battle against Gary in the silver conference?"

"Well, maybe just a little..."

"He used his Magmar against my Heracross, yet I still won. In the time since then I've battled members of both the old Hoenn and current Sinnoh elite four, believe me when I say type really doesn't matter."

"Alright, so, onto mine then."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Meanwhile Mikki and Whitney had not been idle themselves, they had seen many different Pokémon, all of which were promptly ignored however as Whitney was interested in getting another Pokémon that was not really known for being in the Johto Region and Mikki was on the lookout for a rather specific Pokémon herself.

Whitney, tired of the silence that had encroached upon the two female trainers, asked, "So, the Grand Festival huh?"

"Yeah. What of it?"

"Well, when Ashley was travelling around Johto she had a couple of Gym Leaders trailing around after her."

"Ah, I see. That's what you were wondering about, why Amelia has a coordinator with her?"

"Well, kinda."

"Well we've been friends forever, or did you forget that story I told you about Ash and Amelia back in the waiting room already?" Whitney laughed, scratching the back of her head, causing Mikki to sigh in consternation. "Well, I truly _am_ glad that neither Ashley nor Amelia decided to go down the path of a co-ordinator."

"Huh? Why's that?"

"Although, to tell you the truth I think that they decided to become trainers for the challenge."

"The challenge?"

"Yeah. They don't really like to broadcast it too much, but both their mother and their father were top coordinators at one time, and, naturally, they both inherited that talent. Granted Ashley takes after their mother's style and Amelia after their father's. In Pallet Town, every year there is a festival held where you get given a Pokémon and use it in a 'talent show'. The idea is to show it off in the best way possible and then you are judged by Professor Oak, Ashley and Amelia's mother, Masae, the Pallet Town Radio DJ, The Mayor and The Nurse Joy from Viridian City. Whenever Ashley and/or Amelia competed it always, _always_, came down to the two of them. One year the judges tried to rig it by giving them a Grimer and a Shellder, didn't slow them down one bit."

"That can't be!"

"Oh yes it can. Like I said, I'm just lucky that they got bored of showing off their Pokémon."

Whitney said, "Well then if that's the case then it's really no wonder they struggled for a bit when they first started on their journey, after all, going from showcasing Pokémon to defeating them is a pretty big step."

"Well, I wouldn't know."

"So, does that mean that you're actually scared of those two sisters?"

"I suppose, in a sense."

"Hey, is that a..."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Author's Note

Sorry, I couldn't resist stopping there.


	10. Pallet Town Victors

As Ashley was catching Scizor Whitney and Mikki were not being idle. They had seen many different Pokémon, but they promptly ignored them, having seen them all before, and knowing everything about them. That was until they came across a green and yellow one (Sewaddle), and a purple and green one (Venipede). Whitney asked, "Hey Mikki, you ever seen one of them before?"

"No, I haven't. I was going to ask you," Mikki replied.

"Well, since neither of us knows what they are, what do you say about catching them?"

"Sounds good to me, which one do you want?"

"I'm not particularly fussed, you?"

"Well, that purplish one looks like it could be a poison type, and poison types and members of my family don't really mix too well together."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"Well, alright then," Whitney said as she and Mikki drew their park balls. When they threw them at the Pokémon, they pinged almost immediately, signifying a capture. They both said, "Alright, we caught 'I've no idea'." Satisfied with the Pokémon that they caught they headed back to the entrance of the park to submit their Pokémon for judging.

XXXXX

Zachariah had not been sitting on his hands either. He had captured one Pokémon after another, releasing all of them due to their inability to learn any water type moves. Eventually he came upon a Pokémon from his home region, Surskit. Instead of forcefully capturing it by battling it he charmed it into wanting to go with him. Once the capture was complete he headed back to the park entrance to submit Surskit for judging.

XXXXX

Meanwhile Ashley and Amelia had kept on walking in the same direction, passing by many different Bug-types. On their way Ashley had convinced Amelia to capture a Venonat to submit if they didn't come across any Pokémon that Amelia truly wanted. Ashley, tired of the silence, asked, "So, how's travelling with Mikki going for you?"

Amelia said, "Well," pausing to consider her answer, "good. Well, when she's not hitting me anyway. But enough about me, what Pokémon did you get in the Sinnoh region?"

"Well," Ashley said, "I won't bother trying to tell you everything now, but I ended up with an Infernape and Torterra. They are the final evolutions of the fire and grass type starters in the Sinnoh Region. I traded Aipom for a Buizel. I caught a Gligar, which evolved into Gliscor. I also managed to get the Normal/Flying type from the Sinnoh Region, Staraptor. There is also Gible, who is still here with me."

"Wow, wait…only six?"

"What do you mean, _only_ six?"

"Well…it's just…isn't it better if you have more?"

"I find that if I catch a few Pokémon I can focus on understanding them more, which makes utilising their respective strengths in battle easier. If you do like some other trainers and catch many different kinds of Pokémon then, to get the same level of cohesiveness you need to change out your Pokémon repeatedly in order to gain the same bond with them. Of course, some trainers forgo trying to deepen the bond between themselves and their Pokémon in order to increase the strength of their Pokémon to be able to compete with those that have deep bonds with their own. So, in the end, it's really a trade-off on how deeply you want to understand your Pokémon."

"I see," Amelia said, realising that she wanted a greater bond between her Pokémon and herself, so decided to forgo capturing another nine Pokémon in favour of trying to win with less. "What Pokémon do you have on you now?"

"Like I told you before, I have Gible, the Mareep I traded for with Zachariah along with two Braviary that I caught in order to get here on time."

"Braviary? What's that?"

"It's a flying type that my Pokédex said migrates from the Unova Region."

"Oh, cool."

"Do you want one?"

"Eh?" Amelia gasped, shocked that her sister would offer such a thing after the speech that she just gave about deepening bonds between her Pokémon and herself.

"What do you mean 'eh?'?"

"Well…it's just that after that speech about deepening bonds between your Pokémon…"

"Ah. Well, the reason actually has a lot to do with that."

"How so?"

"According to the Pokédex, Braviary desire to throw themselves into battle. Which normally I'd be all for, but right now I'm still trying to figure out if I want to challenge the Pokémon League again or take on the Grand Festival."

Amelia scoffed, "Mikki would just _love_ that."

"Heh, I bet she would," Ashley smiled.

"Whichever route I take though, I can't really see me giving both Pokémon the amount of battle that they might desire, so…"

"Oh. Alright then," Amelia said, glad to know that her sister hadn't undergone some kind of rapid personality change along with her physical one. Then her eyes widened in desire as she saw a small yellow bug drop down, attached to a branch via a Spider Web. She said, "I want that," pointing at the bug type suspended before them. Amelia tossed her Park Ball at it. It didn't put up a ghost of a fight. Amelia cried out, "Alright! I caught a…yellow…spiderish…Bug-type Pokémon…" and scratched the back of her head as she and her sister laughed at the line. After recovering, Amelia said, "I wonder what it is," and retrieved her CSD to release the Venonat that she caught earlier. When she had her CSD in her hand she browsed through it until she found the details of the Pokémon that she just caught. She said, "According to this, the Pokémon I just caught is called a Joltik. It's from the Unova Region, like Braviary, and has Electric-type properties along with its Bug-type ones and can use Cross-Poison, Electroweb, String Shot and Spider Web."

"There's an Electric-type bug? Cool. So, is that us done?" Ashley asked after seeing the venonat that Amelia had caught bounce away.

"Yeah. I'm good," Amelia said, heading back the way they came.

On their way they heard someone yelling, "_Electabuzz are brave and strong, We'll fight you to the end, We'll belt the ball so long, And then we will defend, So if you think you'll win this game, You're in for quite a shock, Electabuzz will electrify, And then we'll rule and rock, Go team go team go."_

Ashley said, "That sounds familiar."

"Well, it should," Amelia said, "It's the Electabuzz Baseball Team's theme song. But I don't know why anyone would be singing it here."

"I have an idea, but it's going to be tiresome if it turns out to be right."

"Really? Why is that?"

"When I was going through Johto before we ran into a rabid Electabuzz fan, Misty actually thought that we were mirror images of each other...I've no idea why though. Anyway, she's fanatical about yellow and black Pokémon, so you'd best keep Joltik away from her."

"I see. Well then, I hope that I don't run into her."

"Why not?"

"You know that I go for the Starmie."

"Oh yeah, sorry, I kind of forgot."

"Well, we haven't seen each other for a few years now, so I guess that it is to be expected...still..." Amelia sniffed.

"Now now, none of that. We're together now, aren't we?"

"Yeah," Amelia said, smiling up at Ashley. The two trainers then hastened back to the park entrance to have their Pokémon judged.

When the sisters were about to exit the park and head backinto the reception area to have their Pokémon judged Ashley saw Whitney and Mikki and called out, "Hey!"

Whitney called out, "Hi!" and she and Mikki jogged the last twenty metres or so to catch up to the sisters.

When Whitney and Mikki were standing near them, Ashley asked, "So, how'd you to go?"

"We did great Ashley," Whitney said, "although the best part was learning about these talent competitions held in Pallet Town."

The eyes of Ashley and Amelia widened in shock and a little fear. Amelia's narrowed, glaring at Mikki. She angrily demanded, "You didn't…"

Whitney, surprised at the reaction, asked, "Wha…what's the problem?"

Ashley sighed as she put a calming hand on her sister's shoulder. She said, "Look Whit, Amelia and I don't really like to talk about it. That competition attracts professional trainers from outside of Pallet Town. Some coordinators even compete in it to test, and even increase, their skills. Given that either of us won the thing every year, you can imagine that we didn't gain many friends from it."

"You can't mean that…"

"Basically we won too many. In the end I ended up losing my last friend, until I beat him, ironically enough, in the Johto League. Amelia was left with one."

"I…see…" Whitney said, stunned that the person she knew(Ash) had gone through all of that. "But why would…"

"Well, we _were_ all kids at the time. That competition is part of a festival that is held only once a year. It's a pretty important event that commemorates the founding of Pallet Town."

"Mmm…well…I guess…" Whitney said, unsure that that was excuse enough.

"Anyway, we have a competition to win."

Mikki said, "You know that we can't _all_ win, right?"

"Well, as far as I'm concerned," Ashley said, "I've already won."

"Excuse me?" Zachariah asked as he heard Ashley's announcement as he was walking towards the group. "I beg to differ."

"Oh sure," Ashley said, "I may not have won the competition yet, and I may still not, but I caught a Pokémon that I have wanted for a while now, so…"

"Ah."

"So, are we going to go submit 'em or what?" Amelia asked.

Mikki looked at her friend warily before turning to look at her watch and almost shrieked, "Argh! We're almost out of time." All five participants exited the park to submit their Pokémon for judging. When they got there they saw that the reception area had transformed. Now there was a raised dais at one wall and the entire area was covered in seating, most of which was already being used. At the back there were five seats remaining, which the group took with the two siblings farthest in, then Mikki and Whitney with Zachariah taking the aisle seat.

Five minutes after group was seated Briar stood up on a podium and said, "First of all, I must thank you all for participating in this year's event. It is the greatest turnout that we have had in years. That said, there can only be one winner. After much debate amongst the judges we have decided to award first place to a trainer from the far off Sinnoh Region, Ashley Ketchum."

Ashley blew a hair out of her eye as she stood up quietly saying to her sister, "Never thought I'd win two of these things."

When Ashley was on the stage Briar handed Ashley the Park Ball that she had captured her Scizor in and shook her hand and held on to it while some photos were taken. When Ashley had moved one of her normal pokéballs into her bag and clipped the Park Ball to her pokébelt Briar said, "Now, for your prize."

"Okay," Ashley said, "what is it already?"

"It's this," Briar said, producing an item from his pocket. "We of the National Park are happy to present you with this Prism Scale." Briar handed the Prism Scale to Ashley and she went back to her seat. When Ashley was seated Briar said, "In second place is…oh, good lord, it would appear that the runner up is related to Ashley. Please come to the stage Amelia Ketchum." When Amelia was on stage Briar handed her Park Ball to her and said, "Now, for your prize you have the selection of either a Magmarizer or a Dragon Scale."

Amelia said, "Hmm…I don't really know what either of them do. So…could you please tell me first?"

"Of course. Magmarizer evolves Magmar into Magmortar and a Dragon Scale evolves Seadra into Kingdra."

"Oh," Amelia said. "Hmm…Well…I don't know…Actually, no. I'll take the Magmarizer."

"Very well then," Briar said, "Here you go," Handing Amelia a box with a gem that seemed to have a flame burning within it.

Amelia said, "Thank you," as she took the box from Briar and walked back to her seat next to her sister.

"Now, coming in third place is another trainer from Pallet Town, one Michelle Locxya." Mikki walked up to the stage and accepted both the Park Ball with her Pokémon in it and the Dragon Scale that Amelia had chosen not to accept. Once Mikki was back in her seat Briar said, "The rest of you can pick up the Bug Pokémon that you caught at the reception desk before you leave. Thank you for coming to this year's event and I hope that you shall all come again next year."


	11. Path To Power

When Whitney and Zachariah had collected their respective Bug Pokémon they met Ashley, Amelia and Mikki outside. Zachariah said, "Well, I'm off."

Mikki asked, "Where are you going?"

"I'm headed to the Whirl Islands. I have good information that there is a water type breeder there that is a pioneer in the care of water types, how about you?"

"There's a contest in Goldenrod City in a few days that I'm going to be competing in. Also Amelia has a gym to beat."

Zachariah said, "I see. Well, if I don't see you again, goodbye."

"Oh I doubt that," Ashley said.

"Excuse me?" Zachariah asked.

"You'll undoubtedly be seeing at least _me_ again."

"Why is that?"

"There is a competition for Water Type Pokémon held in the Whirl Islands in a few months that I'll be competing in. I doubt that neither you nor Amelia would be able to pass it up."

"In that case I shall see you at the competition," Zachariah said, turning to walk back to Olivine City to catch a ferry to Blue Point Isle.

After Zachariah had left Whitney looked at the sky and noticed that it was quickly nearing sunset. She said, "We won't get to Goldenrod City by tonight. Do you want to go to my Uncle Milton's Dairy Farm?" Ashley was all for it, but Amelia and Mikki discussed it amongst themselves for about thirty seconds before agreeing. With that decided Whitney led Ashley, Amelia and Mikki to her Uncle's farm. When they got there she knocked on the door and called out, "Unncle!"

About five minutes later the door opened and Whitney's Uncle said, "Whitney! It's been too long. You know I miss you."

"Oh geez," Whitney said, "I'm really sorry. I couldn't help it though, I had been really busy with business at the Gym and then I had to look after Jasmine for the last week or so."

"Then that's fine." Then he looked past Whitney and saw the three girls. He said, "Who are these people behind you."

"This is Ashley," Whitney said, indicating Ashley.

Ashley said, "Heya Milton."

"Uhh…I don't think that we've met before…"

"We have, but there have been some…changes…since we met."

"Oh?"

"Yeah."

Whitney said, "Anyway, the girl with the black hair behind her is her sist…" Whitney shook her head, remembering the ruse that the siblings had used before continuing. "Uh…sorry, she's her cousin, Amelia Ketchum."

Milton thought, '_Ketchum? Didn't Whitney bring a boy with that name here…what was his name again? Hmm…Well, I'll think of it later._'

"HIya," Amelia greeted, cocking her head as she smiled and rose her right hand in a fist before flicking it to the right, raising her thumb, index and middle fingers in a wave.

Milton said, "Hello."

"And the last one is Mikki, Amelia's close friend and travelling companion."

Mikki nodded her head and said, "How do you do?"

Milton smiled and said, "I'm Fine. It's always good to meet some of Whitney's friends. Speaking of which, what has happened with your brother?"

"What do you mean?"

"I haven't seen him for about a month now."

"Huh? That's not right."

"Care to explain? Although indoors might be better. Why don't you all come in?"

"Thank you," Whitney said, a sentiment echoed by the other girls.

Once they were all inside Whitney's Uncle led them to his living room and offered them all a glass of Miltank Milk while they each took a seat on one of the couches. They all refused as they had each only just finished off a drink that they had bought at the National Park. Milton took a seat himself. Whitney asked, "So, what's this about Wallace not coming here?"

"I haven't seen him in more than a month."

"Why that little…" Whitney said, furious at her brother. "I'm sorry. I've been telling him to come here twice a week. I thought he had been…"

Whitney's Uncle sighed and said, "I'm afraid he's a lot like his mother was at his age."

"Really?" Whitney asked, surprised to hear it as her mother had always seemed to have had a responsible attitude to everything.

"Yes."

"I see. Well I'm still going to have to find out what he's been doing."

Whitney's Uncle looked at Amelia asked, "Have you challenged the Goldenrod Gym yet?"

"How did you know that I…"

"I just remembered that a boy named Ketchum came through here a few years ago. He was challenging gyms too."

"I see," Amelia said, raising her right eyebrow at her sister, as if to ask, 'have you been here?' Ashley merely nodded. "Then yes, I have."

Whitney asked, "How was it?"

"I beat Raticate and Ursaring easily enough, but I had no chance against his Girafarig and its psychic attacks."

"Girafarig!" Whitney exclaimed, shocked that he brother would disgrace the gym in such a way. She pinched the bridge of her nose and dropped her head into her hands as she said, "What was he thinking?" a look of pain crossing her face.

"Huh?" Amelia asked, confused as to what Whitney was talking about.

Milton sighed and said, "The Goldenrod City Gym is a Gym that focuses on Normal Type Pokémon. If the gym leader uses a Pokémon like Wallace's Girafarig, then it calls into question the Gym's specialisation and can lead to an audit of the Gym, which could lead to its closure."

Ashley said, "But Girafarig _is_ a Normal Type."

Whitney said, "Yes. But Wallace focused on its powers as a Psychic Type when he was raising it. Because of that, it is not allowed to be used in a Gym Match for the Goldenrod City Gym." She looked at Amelia and said, "I'm so sorry about this Amelia. I can give you a ba…"

"No way," Amelia said.

"Excuse me?"

"I _earn_ my badges. If he wants to use Girafarig against me, let him."

"But…" Whitney sighed and shook her head before smiling as she laughingly said, "I swear, you're just like your brother."

Amelia looked at Ashley before shrugging and saying, "Eh, I can live with that."

Whitney smiled. She looked to her Uncle and said, "Hey Gramps, do you mind if we stay here tonight? I think it might take a little too long to get to Goldenrod City by dark, so…"

"That's fine. Stay as long as you want. You know I always enjoy our time together."

"Thanks."

Amelia looked at her sister and said, "Alright, with that out of the way, how about you and I have that battle you promised me?"

Ashley said, "Are you sure?"

"Why wouldn't I be? You know that I…"

"I know. But with the exclusion of Gible, I've only had the Pokémon that I have on me for about a week now. Besides, can't you think of a better stage for our battle?"

"You mean…?"

Ashley smiled and said, "How does the Pokémon League sound?"

"Then you _are _going to go for Gym Battles?" Mikki eagerly asked, having no desire to face Ashley on the contest circuit.

"We'll see," Ashley said, purely to annoy her sister's best friend.

Whitney said, "Well, there's a Contest being held in Goldenrod City in…I think it's about three days now…if you want to compete in it that is."

Ashley smiled and said, "Sounds good to me."

Ashley's statement put the fear of…well…Ashley into Mikki, which was only compounded by Amelia saying, "I might give it a shot as well."

Mikki looked terrified as she announced, "Oh no…oh no you don't. I'm going to have enough trouble with one of you competing. I don't want to have to deal with the both of you."

"Don't be like that, it's been a while for me. Say, what do you say about giving me a hand Amelia?" Ashley said, standing up, before looking to Whitney's Uncle and saying, "Do you mind if I use your backyard to train…umm…what was your name again?"

Whitney's Uncle said, "It's Milton. But as to your request…hmm…as long as you don't destroy anything."

"Thank you. I'll try to not destroy anything, but with using Pokémon Attacks, I'd rather not make any promises that I will be unable to keep," Ashley said as she thought back to the Spiritomb that she and the traitor had released.

"Heh, you're pretty smart then."

"Yeah. Though I don't get nearly enough credit for it." Ashley turned to Whitney and said, "Hey Whitney, can you make sure Mikki doesn't see what we're doing?"

"Sure, but why?"

"It would give her an unfair advantage to see what I'm doing beforehand."

"Hmm…I don't see how it would, but alright."

"Contest performances, whilst different in most ways, are still very much like Pokémon battles. Sometimes you need to change the way you approach a certain aspect in order to succeed. If she knows what I'll do beforehand then she has more opportunity to think about and adjust her strategy than the other competitors."

"I see," Whitney said. "That makes sense. Hey, that gives me a thought." Ashley raised her right eyebrow, the same way her sister had done, silently conveying 'continue' to Whitney. Whitney turned to Mikki and asked, "You're a coordinator, right?"

Mikki said, "Yes, why?"

"How many Ribbons do you have?"

"I've got two so far."

"Which ones?"

"The Origina Ribbon, from New Bark Town, and the Tyrian Ribbon, from Violet City, why?"

"Just wondering. Are those the only Contests you've competed in so far?"

"No. I got to the semi-final in the Catallia City Contest before I was beat by some girl called leaf."

"Wait, _Leaf_ is competing?" Ashley said. She thought, '_I had thought that Leaf was set on being a trainer. I wonder what happened.'_

"Yeah, why, do you know her?"

"Yeah. You might be too young to remember, but she moved away from Pallet Town a few years before I became a trainer. As a matter of fact, we were kind of like the pair of you, but as far as I was aware all she had ever wanted was to be a trainer."

"Wow, I never knew," Mikki said.

"Well, either way, how is she? Does she still like to manipulate her opponent's Pokémon?"

"Manipulate their…what do you mean?"

"Well, when I knew her she was always researching techniques that affect an opponent's Pokémon in ways more than just damaging them."

"I don't know about that, but there should be a limit on how fast a Pokémon can be."

"Is that so?" Ashley asked. "Well, that'll just be something that needs to be dealt with at the time." She looked to her sister and said, "Come on sis," and left through the back door as she remembered where it was from the last time she was there.

Milton, following the sisters with confusion as they navigated his house perfectly he looked to Whitney and asked, "So, who is that black haired girl, _really_?"

"I told you didn't I? She is Ashley Ketchum, although you know her as Ash."

"Wait…that is the boy you brought here…three years ago was it?"

"Yeah."

"Well, he's certainly gone through a lot if that is the same person," Milton said, blood running from his nose as he thought of Ashley's figure.

Whitney sighed and said, "Cut that out."

"So does she…uhh…he…know what happened to her…him?"

"Ashley seems to be referring to herself in the feminine right now, so you had best do so as well. It could be because she simply doesn't want to think about it and keep moving forward, or at least sideways."

"I see. Very well then."

"But as to what happened, she told me that she went to sleep a man and then woke up the way she is now. The going theory is that one of her travelling companions did something to her, although nobody knows what, before hightailing it off of the Lilly of the Valley Island."

Mikki said, "Well that explains it then."

"Explains what?" Whitney asked.

"Her clothes."

"Ah."

Milton asked, "What about them? I thought they suited her just fine."

Whitney snidely commented, "Yeah, I bet you did."

Milton coughed and played with his collar as Mikki explained her comment. "The Sinnoh Region is relatively flat in comparison to the Johto Region. So you find a lot of people wearing clothes, such as skirts and coats that reach the ground, which is fine. However, here in the Johto region there are mountains and caves all over the place. So far Amelia and I have had to cross more than ten just to get here. The skirt that Ashley is wearing will probably transform into rags long before she goes through two towns."

Whitney said, "She's already discovered that."

"Really?"

"Yeah. she's asked if she could store them at the Goldenrod Gym when we leave."

Milton said, "_We_?"

"Yeah. I've decided to go with her on this journey of hers."

Milton said, "Does she know that?"

"Yeah. We discussed it the other day. Well, after this business with Wallace has been sorted out anyway. I mean really, what could have possessed him to…"

"I might have an answer to that," Mikki said, raising her hand out of habit.

"Oh?"

"You see, Amelia heard that it was a Normal Gym and went in there with Hitmonchan, Rhydon and Ledian…"

Whitney said, "Ah."

"…and, like Amelia said, she went through both of your brother's first two Pokémon pretty easily."

"I see. Well, like it or not, a Gym Leader can learn a lot from losing. Wallace needs to learn to accept that. Maybe Amelia beating him would be better than me trying to lecture him."

"It's possible."

"Well, I'll force him to use the Pokémon that he had used against her the first time they battled then. You can do that?"

"I'm the official leader of the Gym. The leader of the gym is the one that makes the rules for the Gym and my brother is just a stand-in."

"I see. But will he accept that?"

"He won't have a choice."

"So can you tell me more about Ash and Amelia's time in Pallet Town?"

"I _really_ shouldn't," Mikki said, remembering how furious the siblings had been when she told Whitney about the Pallet Town Competition. "Despite what Ashley said, even if she was at one hundred percent, she wouldn't go all out in a contest…I think."

Milton said, "You make it sound like she's some kind of monster."

"Well…there is really no other way to describe her."

Milton said, "When she came here last time she was having serious problems when battling my Niece. If she is really as good as you claim then…"

"Like I told Whitney before, their parents are both renowned Coordinators. Both Ashley and Amelia inherited their parents' talents. There were some…issues…caused by that back at home. They decided to take the path of a trainer for the challenge."

"That hardly…"

"They were beating experienced coordinators before they had their first Pokémon."

"How could they defeat experienced coordinators without having any Pokémon themselves?"

"The competition I was talking about assigns Pokémon to the competitors. That makes them on a level playing field...of a sort."

Milton said, "I see," playing with his moustache. Ashley and Amelia stayed outside until dinner before going back outside until nine o'clock. Every so often Whitney and Mikki could see flashes coming in through the window, but they kept their word and didn't look out of the window once.


	12. Team Rocket Return

The next day, when all four trainers were up, they had a breakfast of pancakes, cooked by Whitney's uncle, before getting ready to leave. Once they were ready they met in the living room and Mikki said, "Thanks for letting us stay here last night Milton."

"That's fine," Milton said, "Any friends of Whitney are always welcome here."

"That's great Uncle, we really need to be going now," Whitney said. As she smiled Whitney thought, '_We need to leave now in case I get us lost._'

Ashley was thinking, '_She probably wants to give herself time if she gets us lost. I had better keep an eye out._'

Amelia called out, "Yeah, thanks for letting us stay here," before she ran out of the house to wait with Mikki for her sister at the gate.

As Ashley and Whitney exited the house, Ashley waved over her shoulder and said, "Thanks," before whispering to Whitney, "You _better not_ get us lost."

"I won't. Don't worry. I know this area like the back of my hand."

"Alright. But if you get us lost even once, I'm using you for target practice with Mareep, got it?"

"Yeah, I got it," Whitney said, gulping, knowing that Ashley was one to follow through on her word.

About three hours later Amelia said, "Whitney."

Whitney said, "Yes Amelia?"

"We wouldn't happen to be lost, would we?"

"No. Why would you say that?"

"Because I'm pretty sure that this is the third time we've passed that tree there."

"Which tree?"

"That charred one there."

Whitney looked at the tree that Amelia was pointing to and saw Ashley fingering one of her pokéballs. She said, "No no, there was a fire here last year. It's not really that surprising that there are many burnt trees around this area." Ashley moved her hand away from her pokéballs.

"Oh," Amelia shrugged, "alright then."

The group of four continued walking for another half-hour in peace when, all of a sudden, the earth opened up under them and they fell into a hole. Ashley groaned as she stood up, rubbing her lower back. She said, "A pitfall?"

"That's right Jiggly," a voice called out from above them.

Ashley recognised the voice and said, "Matchstick?"

Whitney looked at her friend and asked, "Matchstick?"

"You'll find out." Whitney shrugged, accepting the answer. "But in the meantime, how about we get out of this hole?"

"That's great," Whitney said, "but how do you suggest we do that?"

"That's easy," Ashley said, drawing two of her pokéballs from her belt. "Come on out, Braviary." Once the two birds were out of their Pokéball, Ashley returned her pokéballs to her belt before saying, "We need to get out of here, so grab me 'n' Whitney and fly us out of here." The two Flying Types called out, somewhat annoyed at being used as a delivery service, but grabbed the two girls as requested, clamping their talons around their shoulders and flying straight up, out of the hole before flapping backwards, away from the two Team Rocket members.

Ashley was about to order her Braviary back down the hole to get Mikki and her sister, but she heard, "Come on out, Fearow / Pidgeot." Ten seconds later she saw her sister being lifted out of the hole by a Pidgeot and Mikki by a Fearow.

Ashley said, "Now what is it this time, Matchstick?"

'Matchstick' yelled, "Stop calling me Matchstick, Jiggly!"

Whitney, getting the insults being launched between the two, rolled her eyes and said, "Alright, just who are you anyway?"

"If you're looking for trouble," " 'Matchstick' said

"Then you might as well make it double," the guy said.

"To infect the world with devastation"

"To unite the peoples within every nation."

"To denounce the evils of truth and love."

"To reach the stars above."

"Christie."

"Francis."

"Team rocket, blasting off day and night."

"Surrender now for you will surely lose this fight."

Amelia said, "That's…"

Mikki said, "Rather odd, right?" to her friend.

Ashley said, "Eh, you get used to it."

"Really?"

"Yeah, after a while."

Amelia said, "I'd rather not have to get used to it. Anyway, why are you calling her Matchstick?"

Ashley said, "Uhh…don't mind that." Ashley looked to her sister and her friend and asked, "Do you two want to take care of this?"

"Hey!" Christie said, "What do you mean 'take care of us'? Besides, we're here for you, Jiggly."

"For me?"

"Yeah, for you."

Amelia asked, "What do you want my sister for?"

"Team Rocket is on the lookout for rare and powerful Pokémon. Not only does she have a Gible, she also has those two birds that we've never seen before. Since they can carry Jiggly they must have some impressive strength." The two flying types hovering above Ashley's head called out in anger at the insinuation that they were anything but.

Ashley looked up and said, "Calm down you two." She looked back at Matchstick before sighing and saying, "Fine then, have it your way Matchstick. Braviary, use Sunny Day." The left Braviary's wings glowed golden before the light faded from its wings and a ball of light formed in front of its mouth. It looked up and shot the glowing orb into the sky. The six people all felt it suddenly become warmer.

Christie smirked and said, "Why thank you Jiggly. Come on out, Houndour," facing the circular area on her Pokéball at Ashley.

Frank said, "It's a two on two battle, so no complaints, I choose you, Nidoran ."

"That's fine," Ashley said. "It's your turn."

"Nidoran , use Thunderbolt."

Ashley thought, '_That thing can use Thunderbolt?_' she called out, "Braviary, drop down." Both of her Braviary stopped flapping their wings and raised them up above their heads, dropping down a foot, dodging the Thunderbolt before starting to flap their wings again. Ashley saw a plume of fire headed towards her two Pokémon and said, "Get back up." Her Braviary flapped their wings once, regaining the extra foot that they had just lost to dodge the Thunderbolt. She said, "Braviary, use Heat Wave." The Braviary on the right fired a massive stream of fire that had fiery rings rushing the length of it that ran just above the plume of fire being shot by Houndour. "Now, use Aerial Ace," Ashley commended her first Braviary, which flew around both plumed of fire, headed towards Houndour, a white energy surrounding it as it flew.

Christie said, "Houndour, redirect your Flamethrower to counter Heat Wave, but keep an eye on the secon…"

Frank said, "Don't worry about it, Nidoran , charge a Thunderbolt and use it on Braviary as soon as it spins around the top of the fire streams."

Braviary didn't go around the top of the streams though as Ashley called out, "Now Braviary, use it on Nidoran ."

Christie exclaimed, "What?"

Frank's eyes widened as he realised what Ashley had done and said, "A distraction!" but it was too late as Braviary slammed into Nidoran , knocking it out.

Ashley said, "Braviary, stop heat wave and spin around the Flamethrower."

Christie said, "Not happening," before she ordered, "Houndour, change the direction of your Flamethrower so it cuts Braviary's path."

Ashley said, "Use Crush Claw," to the Braviary that had just taken out Nidoran. It flew the short distance between them too fast for Christie to try and make a command, let alone think of a way out of the situation. She could only watch as her Houndour was one-shotted by the same Pokémon that knocked out Frank's Nidoran . Ashley, seeing Christie and Frank's irritation at being defeated so easily, she said, "It's customary that I send you Team Rocket goons flying into the distance, but this time I'll settle for you just leaving."

Christie said, "Houndour return," pointing her Pokéball at her unconscious Pokémon, returning it so it could rest. Christie spitefully said, "You won this time Jiggly, but this _isn't_ over," before running alongside her partner, off into the forest.

Ashley watched as Christie's form disappeared into the forest, thinking, '_Those two aren't like Jessie, James and Meowth. They will be trouble._' She rubbed the necks of her two Braviary, congratulating them on their performance in the battle that they had just had before looking at her current travelling companions. She saw that her sister had stars in her eyes as Mikki lost all tension in her body, falling to her knees on the ground. Whitney was silent. Ashley said, "What?"

Amelia said, "That was…so Cool!"

Mikki, regaining control of her voice exclaimed, "Cool?! How was _that_ cool?"

Whitney said, "What I think she means, is how could you do that when you only caught those Braviary yesterday?"

Ashley said, "What do you think I was doing yesterday? Dancing a jig?"

Mikki said, "But even so…"

Ashley said, "Look, don't we have somewhere to be?"

"Right!" exclaimed Whitney, "come on, this way," as she headed towards Goldenrod City while Amelia helped Mikki up.

As Amelia helped her up, she whispered to her, "I don't care what you say, there's something wrong with your sister Amelia."

"Something wrong? What do you mean?"

"I've said it before, she's a monster."

Amelia smiled and said, "Come on, you know that's not true," as she and Mikki looked at Ashley interact with her Pokémon before she returned them, jogging to catch up with Whitney. Amelia and Mikki returned their respective flying type to their pokéballs before running after the two older teens.

XXXXX

Meanwhile, somewhere in the Kanto Region Jessie James and Meowth were standing in an elevator, going to the lowest basement of the building that they had entered mere moments before. James nervously asked, "What are we going to tell the boss this time?"

Jessie said, "We could tell him that I got to the finals of the Grand Festival."

James said, "I'm not sure that Giovanni would be too interested in that. The fact is that we…" there was a 'ding', signifying that the lift had arrived at its destination. Jessie and James exited the lift preceded by Meowth.

Giovanni frowned as he said, "Oh, it's you three."

Jessie and James knelt on one knee, saying, "Boss Giovanni."

Giovanni said, "Get up!" Jessie and James did so. "Since you're here you must have something to report."

Jessie and James looked at each other and said, "Uhh…"

Meowth stepped in to save his teammates' hides. He said, "We was instrumental in tha downfawl of Team Galactic in tha Sinnoh Region."

"Ohh," Giovanni said, surprised that the trio could get anything right. "I had Cassidy and Butch in the Sinnoh Region as well." Jessie and James, hearing the names of their respective rival coming from Giovanni's mouth sent shivers of rage through them. Their rage was quelled though when Giovanni continued. "All they managed to do was make a measly one million dollars and send back 40 Pokémon." Beads of sweat started to run down Jessie, James and Meowth's faces at the information being given. "If what you're telling me is true, then what you have done in the Sinnoh Region eclipses their achievement by far."

"Oh thank you Giovanni sir!" James said.

"Thank you very much," Jessie said.

Giovanni said, "There is no need for that. Given your recent achievements I would like you to do something for me in the Johto Region." The three members of Team Rocket eagerly accepted the assignment, as soon as Giovanni had laid it out for them.


	13. Rematch

After another half hour Ashley, Amelia, Mikki and Whitney came in sight of Goldenrod City. When they were there, Whitney said, "See, I told you I knew my way here," to Ashley.

Ashley said, "It would appear that I owe you an apology Whitney."

"That's fine. If I were you I'd probably have done the same thing myself."

"Good, then let's get to Ameli…" then the four girls heard a stomach growling. The two Ketchum's scratched the back of their heads before simultaneously saying, "Uhh…guess it's time for lunch."

Whitney, shocked at the twin reactions, looked to Mikki and said, "Is it in their DNA?"

Mikki sighed and shrugged before saying, "Who knows. Do you know anywhere we can get something to eat?"

"Yeah, sure there's this place that sells the best hotdogs that I know a shortcut to."

"Really?" Mikki asked, eager to hear about a place that sold her favourite food.

"Yeah," Whitney said, "I'll take you there through the Goldenrod City Undergr…"

"Oh no you don't," Ashley said, remembering the last time Whitney tried to take her and her friends through the Goldenrod City Underground. "You are taking us there the normal way, no matter how long it takes us to get there."

"What? But your stomachs are…"

"I don't care," Amelia said, having heard what happened last time Whitney took her brother anywhere via her shortcut and not wanting to experience it herself. "Just get us there."

Whitney sighed as she lost all tension in her upper body. She said, "Fine, let's go," and kept walking, this time not going via the Goldenrod City Underground, which all four girls ended up thankful for as they were all hungry by the time they reached the Goldenrod City Galleria.

XXXXX

Meanwhile, on a train heading to Goldenrod City there were a red haired woman and a blue haired man sitting in an almost empty carriage. The man was reading a newspaper. He said, "Oh, there's a Pokémon Contest being held in Goldenrod City in two days' time," reading the article out loud for the benefit of his partner.

"Really?" the woman asked.

"Yes. Are you going to compete?"

"Hmm…" The woman said. "I'm not sure I should."

"Really?" the man said, "that's not like you Jessie."

"We've had a very important mission assigned to us James, as much as I want to, Contests may get in the way of that mission."

"Hmm…I don't know about that Jess." Jessie raised an eyebrow. James' voice lowered as he talked, "We need to find a trainer with a… … …The best place to find one is either in the Grand Festival or the Pokémon League."

Jessie said, "Hmm…you could be right. In that case…"

XXXXX

After the four girls had had their lunch Amelia said, "So, can I have my rematch now or is there anything else that needs to be done first?"

Whitney said, "Well, Ashley needs to get her new outfit and there are enough stores here to…"

Ashley interjected, "I can get them anytime. Amelia's battle is more important."

Whitney shrugged and said, "Well, if you say so," and lead the group out of the Goldenrod Galleria to the gym.

When they were at the Gym Amelia knocked on the door and said, "I've come to re-challenge this Gym for a Plain Badge."

A voice came out of a speaker saying, "You are not allowed to challenge this Gym."

"Huh?" Amelia blurted, "What do you mean you…"

"You have already been defeated, as such you are inel…"

Whitney stepped in front of the camera used to identify challengers. She said, "Since when has my Gym been allowed to refuse access to Official Gym Battles?"

The voice squeaked as it said, "Sis?! Uhh…you see…I…uhh…"

Whitney opened the door and entered the Gym, followed by Amelia and Mikki before Ashley entered in last. Whitney led them to the security room that had the cameras and identification software. When they got there she found that her brother was no longer there. She turned to her friends and said, "Would you mind waiting in the Gym battlefield while I go and find my stupid younger brother?"

"Sure," Ashley said as she thought, '_Though I'd like to be there myself._'

Amelia said, "But I…"

"You can give him a piece of your mind when you battle him Amelia. This bit has to be settled between the two of them."

"Well, alright," Amelia said before heading back down to the battlefield.

After her friends had left Whitney started looking for her brother. She found him in the spot that he had always used when they played hide and seek as kids. When she found him she grabbed him by the ear and pulled him up. She angrily said, "Now, Wallace, we need to talk."

"Yes sis'," Wallace said, looking at the ground.

In a somewhat calmer voice, barely, Whitney said, "Care to tell me what in the world you were thinking, not letting Amelia re-challenge the Gym?"

"Well, I already beat her anyway, so…"

Whitney said, "With Girafarig," a cold look on her face.

"Uhh…" Wallace said, unable to come up with an excuse for disobeying his sister's one absolute rule. After half a minute he said, "It was to protect the reputation of the Gym."

"Well in doing so, you might have managed to ruin the Gym's reputation."

"Wait. What do you mean?"

Whitney sighed and said, "You're lucky that it was a Ketchum that you cheated on."

"Wait…what?"

"If a Gym Leader uses a Pokémon not of the type that the gym specialises in, then the challenger that that Pokémon was used against has the right to file a complaint against the Gym. There will then be an investigation by the Pokémon Investigation Agency, which has the ability to close down a Gym found violating the Pokémon Gym regulations. It just so happens that both Ketchum siblings are rather stubborn."

"Huh?"

"It would seem that Amelia would like to challenge you again, with you using the same Pokémon as last time."

"Wait…then…"

"I'll allow you to use Girafarig this one time, but that's it. Understand?"

Wallace said, "Yes sis'."

Whitney said, "Good," in a tone that said that there would be lots of pain involved if he ever tried to use Girafarig in an Official Gym Battle again. "Now. You have a gym challenge to attend to."

XXXXX

When Whitney and her brother got to the battlefield Ashley was saying, "And that's how I…" then she heard the door open and said, "Looks like your opponent is here," nodding towards the door.

Amelia looked to where her sister indicated and said, "Looks like."

"Do you mind if I watch?"

"No!" Amelia said, aghast at the thought that the first time her brother would miss out on her battle.

"Well, alright then," Ashley said, misconstruing her sister's statement. "If you don't want me here then…"

"Don't you dare leave," Amelia almost threatened.

"Wait…then…" Ashley said, reinterpreting her sister's answer, this time the right way. "Alright," Ashley said, smiling as she walked over to the benches that were set up on the side of the battlefield. Mikki was by her side the entire time.

Whitney said, "Alright, this rematch is between Amelia Ketchum of Pallet Town and the acting Gym Leader, Wallace. Wallace shall be using the same Pokémon as last time and the rules shall be the same. The first trainer to have all three Pokémon unable to battle will lose. I will be the referee for this match." Whitney glared at her brother as she said, "I _hope_ there are no complaints."

"None here," Amelia said.

Wallace "No," knowing from past experience that there was no good gained from crossing his sister when she was in a mood like the one she was currently in.

Whitney said, "Good. In that case the Acting Gym Leader will send out their Pokémon first."

Wallace said, "Go, Raticate," sending out the Mouse Pokémon.

When Wallace released it, on the sidelines, Ashley commented, "It's darker than normal."

Mikki said, "Yeah. Apparently there is a rare phenomenon that causes a Pokémon to be born with a different colour to normal."

"Yeah. If I remember right, the different coloured Pokémon are referred to as 'Shiny'."

Mikki looked at Ashley askance and said, "You seem to know a lot about it."

"My Noctowl is like that."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Next time you're in Pallet Town ask Professor Oak to show you."

"Alright," Mikki said and frowned, thinking, '_Damn. If she uses that in a contest then I'm through._'

Ashley glanced at Mikki from the corner of her eyes and, guessing correctly, said, "Don't worry too much Mikki."

"Huh?" Mikki asked, unaware that she was frowning.

"I'm not going to be using any of my previously caught Pokémon in Official Contests."

Mikki said, "Oh thank Arceus," letting out a sigh of relief.

"Well, if I can help it that is."

"Don't say that!" Mikki said before she saw the grin on Ashley's face. She thought, '_They're just the same,_' as she rested her head on her right hand, propping it up on her thigh, turning her attention to the match.

Amelia said, "Alright, come on out, Hitmonchan!" throwing a green and white Pokéball over the field.

Ashley said, "Isn't that a Safari Ball?"

Mikki said, "Yeah. We were in Fuchsia City…about six months ago now."

"Hm, I didn't know that they had Hitmonchan in the Safari Zone."

"Well, they are only recent additions."

Ashley thought, '_Maybe I should pay a visit to Fuchsia City when I'm done here._'

Ashley's attention turned back to the battle when she heard Wallace call out, "Raticate, use Shadow Ball."

Amelia thought, '_Shadow Ball? So he's taught it a new trick since our last battle. Too bad it's not going to be enough.'_ Amelia said, "Hitmonchan, duck under it," as the Shadow Ball flew at Hitmonchan's face. Once it was past Hitmonchan's head, Amelia said, "Now use Mach Punch."

Hitmonchan's fist glowed white as it ran at Raticate at an insane speed. When it was closer, as Hitmonchan's fist neared Raticate, Wallace said, "Use Quick Attack to dodge." Raticate jumped to the side of Hitmonchan, a white streak streaming behind it. "Now, use Hyper Fang." Raticate changed direction and bit into Hitmonchan's leg, causing it to flinch in pain. "Now, hit it away with Iron Tail." Raticate jumped up, off the ground and spun around to hit Hitmonchan with its tail, which now had a metallic sheen to it.

As Raticate jumped Hitmonchan regained control of itself. Seeing that Amelia said, "Use Sky Uppercut." Hitmonchan tapped the ground with its fist, causing it to duck under Raticate's scything tail and hit Raticate on its underbelly with a glowing fist, causing it to hit the ceiling before falling to the ground. Wallace looked at Raticate, helpless as it fell. Amelia said, "Hitmonchan, catch Raticate."

Hitmonchan caught Raticate before it hit the ground, but it was still unconscious. Whitney said, "Raticate is unable to battle." Once Wallace had returned Raticate to its Pokéball, Whitney said, "The Gym Leader will now call their next Pokémon."

Wallace gritted his teeth and said, "Go, Girafarig," calling out his not-so-secret weapon earlier than he had in their previous battle, this time knowing how strong her Hitmonchan truly was.

Whitney said, "Battle, commence."

Amelia said, "Hitmonchan return," pointing Hitmonchan's Pokéball at it. Hitmonchan was consumed by a red light before returning to its Pokéball.

Wallace exclaimed, "What?"

"What do you mean what?" Amelia asked. "Our last battle proved that Hitmonchan was no match for Girafarig."

"Well…yeah but…"

Whitney said, "The challenger has chosen to recall her Pokémon, she will now call out her second Pokémon."

Wallace grunted and said, "Fine," huffing as Amelia made her move.

Amelia said, "Come on out, Umbreon."

Wallace thought, _'She has an Umbreon?'_

Whitney said, "Begin."

"Girafarig, use Zen Headbutt," Wallace said, knowing that despite Zen Headbutt being a Psychic-Type move Umbreon would still take _some _damage from the force of it.

Amelia said, "Umbreon, use Shadow Ball and aim it at the ground.." Umbreon shot the orb of ghostly energy at the ground, causing a massive cloud of dust to rise up and cover the field, blocking off Girafarig's sight.

Wallace called out, "What good did that do? Now neither of us can see."

Amelia said, "It doesn't make a difference to Umbreon. Umbreon, use Feint Attack." While Girafarig looked around itself, trying to find out where Umbreon could be, Umbreon moved through the smoke undetected before it appeared mere seconds before crashing into Girafarig's side. Girafarig cried out in pain as it fell to its side. Through the smoke it heard the Umbreon's trainer call out, "Use Dark Pulse." As it wasn't even two meters away Umbreon could see Girafarig and the Dark Pulse hit, knocking it out. Umbreon took Girafarig's tail into its mouth and dragged it over to Wallace so that he could return it to its Pokéball.

Once Wallace had returned his Girafarig to its Pokéball he grabbed another Pokéball and said, "Sail through the skies, Togekiss. Togekiss, use Defog."

Once the dust cloud had disappeared and Whitney saw the flying time she sighed and covered her eyes with her right hand. She shook her head and said, "The Leader will recall Togekiss and send out Ursaring."

Wallace exclaimed, "What?! But I…"

Whitney said, "The rules of this battle state that you can only use Raticate, Ursaring and Girafarig. Even disregarding that, Togekiss fits under the same category as Girafarig. It doesn't know any normal type moves."

"Hmph," Wallace said, annoyed at being unable to call out a Pokémon that could win the match for him. "Fine then. Go, Ursaring," Wallace said, throwing Ursaring's Pokéball over the field.

"Begin."

Amelia recalled her Umbreon. Wallace said, "Why'd you…"

Amelia cut Wallace's question short, stating, "Hammer Arm." Wallace grunted. "Go, Hitmonchan," Amelia called out, resending Hitmonchan into battle.

Whitney said, "Commence."

Wallace said, "Ursaring, use Bulk Up." Ursaring was surrounded by a red glow, increasing both its attack and defence.

"Hitmonchan, use Mach Punch." Hitmonchan crossed the distance between it and Ursaring almost instantaneously. When Hitmonchan was about half the distance Amelia called out, "Change to Dynamic Punch." With the increased speed of Hitmonchan's Dynamic Punch it knocked Ursaring out in one blow, despite its increased defence.

Whitney said, "All three of the Gym Leader's Pokémon have been defeated. As such the match is over," moving to the centre of the field along with Amelia and her brother. When all three were in the centre Wallace handed Amelia a badge. Whitney said, "Congratulations. You beat the Goldenrod Gym."

Amelia said, "Thanks Whitney."

Whitney then rounded on her brother and said, "As for you. What the hell was that?"

"I'm sorry I los…"

"That's not what I'm talking about," Whitney said. "Why did you try to use Togekiss?"

"A Gym Leaders duty is to defeat their challenger otherwi…"

Whitney asked, "Where did you come up with that?"

"Uhh…isn't that what they do?"

Ashley said, "A Gym Leader's responsibility is to test the challenger's ability in battle," as she came over.

"What would you kno…"

"A friend of mine said once that a Gym Leader is shaped by their challengers."

Whitney cut off her brother when he tried to defend against Ashley's claim and said, "That Quick Attack that you had Raticate use to dodge Mach Punch was interesting."

"What do you…"

"I've never seen you use it that way before. As a matter of fact, it looked an awful lot like the way Amelia used Sky Uppercut."

"Uhh…I…" Wallace started to say before sighing and dropping his head. He said, "Sorry for using Girafarig," coming to realise that there was a lot of sense in what the three girls were saying. "Okay, here's your badge," Wallace said, handing over one of the Gym's badges that his sister had told him to keep on him at all times. He turned to look at Ashley before saying, "If you want to challenge me for a badge too, I'm afraid that you are going to have to wait a while."

Ashley said, "No no, it's fine. I'm looking to compete in the Contest in a couple of days so I'll be preparing for that. If I decide to challenge for this Gym's badge I'll come here after that."

"I see," Wallace said. He was secretly glad that he wouldn't have to face one who was clearly, somehow, related to the challenger that had just defeated him.

Ashley waited while her sister placed her badge in her badge case before saying, "So, do you want to take care of that transfer now?" as she walked away.


End file.
